It was pretty much an ordinary day- well, as ordinary as a day in the life of Gilbert Beilschmidt can be. I woke up at a time that no one should be waking up at, and a good portion of my morning was spent groaning and whining, falling asleep at inopportune moments then internally berating myself till I could get my ass out the door.
I was glad that there were no kids within hearing distance of my house because I was pretty sure they would have been scarred for life.
Lets put it this way; I have been accused too many times of having turrets.
Every time my big red suitcase crashed into the heel of my shoe, I got more and more annoyed, and to make it worse, I had to watch what I said because of all the people that bustled around in mindless hurry, trying to get to their planes with a blank look of sleep deprivation and anxiety.
It would have been funny, had I not wanted to punch a wall or punt a small child across the room. I wasn't in a good mood. It was evident.
I stalked through the airport, hoping in vain that my experience at the security would not be as abysmal as my morning had been, as I was waiting in line, a very pregnant woman waddled behind me, tugging along two twin boys I would estimate to be about four. The woman had sweat beaded on her forehead, she clutched at her children's hands in desperation and you could see the exhaustion that crumpled her brow and deepened the circles under her eyes.
Both boys started to cry, high pitched shrieks that got louder with each horrible wail, they sounded like pigs shrieking for their next meal, it made my head throb, and others watched in pity and annoyance as the long line crawled along.
I was having a hard time controlling myself as we moved as slow as humanly possible, and I looked back at the woman to find her on the verge of tears, her lower lip trembling like the little boys at her feet and though the sight was sad, I had lost all patients I could have had with the woman.
I was about to turn and show her a piece of my mind when a miracle happened, the first good thing of the day, in the form of a man with wavy blond hair that shined in the ugly false lighting of the airport. The man stepped from behind the woman (her massive form had hidden him before) and knelt down in front of one of the boys. The pregnant woman hadn't even noticed the man, nor had anyone else, the blond only looked the boy deeply in the eyes for a couple long seconds before the boys eyes focused on the man in front of him and he stopped crying abruptly, a look of confusion on his face.
The man proceeded to the other little boy, who's cries had become more tolerable since his brother's had stopped, and repeated the same process as before, stopping the shrill shrieks all together. The man looked around him shyly, not catching my eye as he looked at the woman who still hadn't noticed him, and stepped back behind her.
I had watched the entire encounter with a wide-open mouth; I was stunned at the strange endeavor, and the boys looked just as confused. They stood in silence, still clutching their mother's hands as she looked down at them in shock, all beginnings of a meltdown rapidly disappearing from her features.
Before I knew it, we were at the front of the line, and I moved to the security station, and presented my license and boarding pass to the stern security guard, who nodded his approval and stamped the pass with bright blue ink. I was surprisingly happy, and I didn't really want to lose that happiness so I moved quickly from the line to find my terminal, all thoughts of the strange blond leaving my mind quickly.
I pulled my bag, not really getting annoyed when it rammed into the back of my shoe till I reached my terminal, but not after playing around on the electronic walkway first, I mean, who could resist right?
I flopped into the uncomfortable leather chair, and watched while people walked at various speeds through the halls, it was quite funny the amount of people who bump into others whilst on their phone, morons.
I pulled my laptop out of my bag and played Tetris for a while, waiting for the plane to arrive and be ready for boarding, when something caught my eye, a flash of bright blond hair and all my attention was directed away from my game. I watched the blond from before walk through the hallway, his eyes eye clear and his head was up, he wasn't on a phone and he didn't have a bag trailing behind him, he had obviously checked his bags unlike me, who cheated by stuffing all of my clothes into a bag that could be taken on as a carry-on. Who needed to pay extra anyway?
He walked timidly, and without a lot of confidence and somewhere far ahead of him, I saw a man trip over his bag and go tumbling to the floor in a heap, his suitcase bursting open and clothes flying everywhere. The man's gaze became alarmed and his mouth dropped open, and for a quick second everything stopped.
The blond man's eyes were trained on the other fallen man as a woman in a startling grey business suit who was texting on her phone stepped in front of him, her hot coffee tipping precariously as she didn't even look up.
I was completely motionless as the woman's steaming hot cup of coffee spilled all down the front of the man's, making him hiss in pain and eyes widen.
The man's hands went immediately to his chest, clutching at his clothes, trying to get the hot drink away from his skin, as the woman looked up, outrage and shock evident on her face.
"What the hell!?" She shrieked, stepping away from the man and looking down at her suit, making sure no drops had landed on her own clothes when the man had pressed his hands against his chest in pain his shirt was soaking wet.
"Watch where you are going, retard!" She yelled and huffed, moving around the stunned man in haughty annoyance.
He blinked a few times, before pushing his hear back from his eyes and looked forward and within seconds he raced ahead, his long legs taking him to the man who was collecting his clothing alone. People walked around him and cast pitying glances at him as he stuffed his clothes back into the bag.
The blond ran to the man, and dropped to the ground, picking up clothes that had become unfolded and folding them neatly, laying them in the suitcase quickly. They exchanged a few words I couldn't hear, the man smiled at the blond gratefully then gestured at his shirt, raising an eyebrow.
The blond waved it off, smiling in return before putting the last folded piece of clothing into the suitcase, pulling it closed.
They both stood up after the man zipped the case shut, and shook hands before parting ways, the man in the same hurry he had been in before and disappearing quickly.
The blond stayed in that spot for a while, looking dejectedly down at his shirt before pushing his long hair out of his face with a grimace and heading towards the bathroom where he slipped inside.
I found myself following the man, shoving my laptop back into my bag and taking it with me.
I found the man without a shirt on, wringing his out and watching the dark coffee drip from his ruined shirt, there was no way he could wear it now.
I winced as I saw the red, angry skin that had been burned by the coffee and how carefully he moved sometimes grimacing as he rubbed against something with his tender skin. The man was skinny, very much so, but his muscles were defined and tight, he had seemed sort of meek before, now I could see the taunt muscles of his arms and back, that didn't bulge unattractively, making him seem more tough. There was more than meets the eye.
The man turned and looked at me, his eyes widened and he blushed, turning away slightly.
"Sorry, someone spilled coffee on me." He murmured, and wrung out his shirt again.
"Do you need a shirt?" I asked, and his head whipped up in surprise, his eyes widening like they had when the drink was spilled on him.
"That- I- huh." He laughed a little breathlessly. "Thank you, that is very kind." He smiled appreciatively up at me and I tried not to blush, because it was now that I learned that the blond before me was very, very beautiful.
He had bright eyes that could only be described as the most unique colour of blue imaginable, more of a kaleidoscopic purple. Thick blonde lashed framed his eyes, making them pop unrealistically and his hair, which was originally pulled back into a low ponytail had loosed considerably, letting long wavy strands loose around his face.
I shook myself away from staring and reached into my bag, pulling out a white shirt with the large black letters stating 'Prussia' very boldly. I had a ton of these shirts at home and I wouldn't miss this one, especially since I could see how sexy this guy looked in one of my shirts.
I handed him the shirt, which he took without complaint, pulling it over his head with a small hiss as it touched his skin.
"I saw what happened, that woman was a real bitch." I said and the blond shook his head vehemently.
"I am sure she had lots of things on her mind at the moment, nothing could have been done."
Jeeze, this guy was one of the most selfless people I had ever met. "She could have apologized or something, I mean, it was her who knocked into you." I said, and he shook his head again.
"I was distracted, I could have avoided her if I wasn't distracted, it was my fault."
"She was on her phone, you shouldn't have had to go out of your way to avoid her. It was her fault and she should have apologized."
"I should have bought her another coffee, I just ran off!"
"To help someone else!" I exclaimed, and his eyebrows rose.
"How long were you watching me?" He asked a little startled, and I refused to blush at his cute face.
"It was a little hard not to watch." I said, and his brow crumpled in confusion.
"You keep helping people." I explained and he blushed heavily again. He did indeed look sexy in my shirt; the blush completed the look.
"Lots of people need help." He said, and smiled. "If helping them is something I can do, why not?"
I thought about the statement and frowned at how I couldn't argue anything. "A lot of people don't share that sentiment." I said finally, and the man's slumped a little.
"That means there is a lot of humanity that needs help." The man stepped away and bowed his head at me.
"Thank you so much for what you have done, you had no reason to give this to me and yet you did. I am very grateful." The man slipped past me and out the door. I wanted to know his name. I wanted to know how he got to be this way. No one could be this giving from birth, there had to have been something in his life to make him such an incredibly good person.
I walked out of the restroom, zipping my bag up again and pulling it along to where I had been sitting before the spill. The airport bustled; people moved with haste, lives were very much lived. I didn't want to forget one of the kindest people I had ever met. I didn't want to lose the beauty that had walked away in my shirt.
And my day went back to being awful, because I knew that fate would never allow me to see the other man again. I just wasn't that lucky.
The flight attendant droned into the microphone, allowing the first class and special assistance passengers to board the plane first. I watched the pompous businessmen and women board with a few stragglers who had a start struck gleam in their eye because they were 'special'. I guess I was just bitter. I had always wanted to sit in the first class.
The flight attendant called the zone two passengers and I jumped into action, racing towards the entrance as to get there first and not have to wait in the god-awful line for people to get their shit into the plane and sit down. I had had enough of lines.
I handed my boarding pass to the flight attendant and she scanned it quickly before reaching for the papers of the person behind me.
I walked down the long hallway into the plane, and passed the first class passengers without a glance before moving to row sixteen in the middle of the plane. I was sixteen A. I sincerely hoped that I would have bearable seatmates. I waited, and waited, passengers passed by me with questioning eyes before sideling along to their own seats. Mine remained empty, till the very last person who got on the plane made his way to his seat, taking my breath away.
Apparently fate was on my side, as the blond man stared at me in shock and slight dismay.
~.~
The blond sat in his seat slowly, eyeing me without even trying to hide it.
"Are you stalking me?" He asked blatantly, and I resisted the urge to burst out laughing. This man was too cute.
"No, I didn't even know if anyone was going to come." I said, restraining my laughter.
The blond sighed and let his head fall back against the seat. He had taken out his pony tail since the restroom, and now his golden hair was falling in waves around his face to about halfway down his neck, I found it interesting that he had one stray curl, poking out in a loop from the rest of his hair. It was adorable.
"So, the last one on the plane?" I asked, my tone was slightly mocking. Only slightly!
The blonde opened his eyes wearily and looked at me with thin patience.
"Please just…don't." He sighed and closed his eyes again; his face was still tilted towards me. His breathing became slow and I could feel each puff of cool breath blow against my cheek.
The flight attendants went through their usual spiel that no one actually listens to and the plane started to move, the blond still didn't wake. The plane picked up speed, the sound of the plane adjusting and preparing for flight filled my ears and before I knew it we were in the air.
I pulled my laptop from my bag, letting myself work mindlessly for a while before I became all to conscious of the blond sleeping beside me. I had chosen the window seat, because that was obviously the best seat, leaving the other two seats empty for him to take, so why had he chosen the seat closest to me when he could have spared himself the awkward proximity?
Or else he wanted the close proximity between us. Oh if only that were true. I almost snorted in disbelief. That was highly unlikely.
I turned away from the alluring sight and looked out the window, watching as we rose above floating clouds that cast shapeless shadows on the ground below. The sun was still high in the sky, it was too early to be doing anything other than sleep so I leant my head against the window and soon I was dreaming alongside the beautiful man next to me.
~.~
When I woke up the man was reading a book, rather thick book, I peered at the cover and was surprised to find it to be Harry Potter.
The blonde started and the book jumped in his hands, he looked over at me quickly, making his wavy hair fan around his neck.
"Oh, I didn't realize you were awake." He whispered and a smile flirted on his lips before he turned back to his book.
"You like Harry Potter?" I asked and he lifted his head, glancing at me cutely and nodding.
"Who is your favourite character?" I asked and he turned to look at me fully.
"Draco." He stated and smiled at my astonished gaze. Honestly, not a lot of people liked Draco, and I certainly didn't either.
"Why?" I asked and the blonde shook his head in supposed amusement.
"Most of the people around Harry were brave and strong, and a lot of people don't think Draco was strong at all. I think Draco could have been one of the strongest fighters for the light if he hadn't been raised the way he was. I think he was beaten, broken and molded into what others wanted to be, but when it came down to it, he couldn't murder. Draco couldn't kill someone he knew didn't deserve it and he didn't deserve the pain that must have taken to do it."
I stared at the man next to me in amazement. He was just so different.
"I never thought of him that way." I said and he smiled at me.
"It is easy to make a person out to be that bad guy when you don't think of what made them the way they are. Voldemort grew up thinking he was an unwanted freak and it shattered him."
"You are very strange, you know that?" I asked, and the blonde's lips pursed.
"Why is it that everyone says that when they meet me?" He mumbled making me laugh. He looked up at me and held out his hand.
"I am Matthew." He said and I took his soft hand.
"Hello Matthew, I am Gilbert."
"I think how we met was special." Matthew protested and I laughed at him again. He furrowed his brow and hit me lightly on the head with the book that had been resting in his lap.
"We met at the airport and you were the weirdest person I had ever had the pleasure of meeting! You were just so polite." I cackled again. "I should have known you were Canadian!"
"Hey! I thought we agreed to not mock my Canadian-ness."
"Canadian-ness?"
Matthew groaned and let his head fall into his lap. "I don't know why I married you." He mumbled and I smiled.
"I know why I married you."
Matthew looked up with a quirked eyebrow and I smirked.
"It isn't everyday you find a guy as attractive as you are who likes Harry Potter."
I ducked as Matthew's book flew at my head and ran away laughing, as he leapt from his chair and chased me out of our house.