Title: Spray Paint
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or any of the characters.
Description: Gilbert and Matthew sneak out once a week in the middle of the night. It's a tradition for them. Human AU.
A/N: Hey! I was feeling particularly rebellious and so I wrote this. Graffiti is illegal. Don't do it. This is dedicated to gohogosa100 as a thank you for drawing the cover art for my new story, Tears On The Fourth. Check it out if ya want. Enjoy!
Gilbert Beilschmidt walked down the empty sidewalks in the middle of the night. A bag full of various items was slung across his shoulder, which was covered by the hoodie he was wearing. He kept his head low, not needing sight to tread his way across the area, instead relying on his memory to take him where he needed to go. The street lamps gave off a yellow tinted glow, helping to guide him. They blurred out most of the stars, but Gilbert took comfort in knowing they were still up there somewhere, even if they couldn't be seen.
Considering the time of night, not many people were roaming around. A few were, but Gilbert wasn't worried. Everyone that was up and about in this area at this time didn't really ask questions. They each kept to themselves. It was a sort of unspoken agreement between people of the night. Although Gilbert was still in the later years of high school, he still considered himself someone of the night. He prefered the night over the day for a multitude of reasons. Plus, he did spend the majority of his time walking the streets in the midnight hours, looking for some form of quiet in his usually chaotic life.
After a while of walking the familiar path, he came to a certain tree. It had a small pattern of carvings which had been done with an old pocket knife a very long while ago. Even though it probably never got watered, the leaves still flourished. They acted like a huge, green umbrella, providing shade for people under the hot sun of the daytime. Gilbert, however, wasn't looking for a place to take cover from the weather. Instead, he walked up to the tree, scanning the leaves and branches above him.
With a smile, he spotted what, or rather, who, he was looking for. A boy around his age with shoulder length blonde hair jumped down from the branch he was seated on. He hit the ground with a quiet 'thud'. That boy was more wild, taking comfort in nature more than the busy city they lived in. Gilbert understood why. It was much more peaceful surrounded by plants and animals, rather than people and cars and everything else that caused for the constant noise.
"Hey Birdie" Gilbert had nicknamed the boy Birdie, even though it was nothing close to his real name of Matthew.
"Gil" came the pleased reply. Matthew straightened out his red hoodie and fixed the position of the bag he carried. It was very similar to Gilbert's in both appearance and contents. The two shared a content glance before embarking on another round of walking. That had only been the meeting place. They still had some more traveling to do before they would make it to the place they ultimately needed to be.
No one knew about these trips. The two boys snuck out once a week in the middle of the night without telling anyone. Just so they could meet up and have some fun. It was a good stress reliever, the perfect mix between relaxing and adrenaline. It had become a tradition. Something neither of them ever skipped or backed out on. That was just unthinkable in their minds.
Matt and Gil walked side by side along the sidewalks, staying close together and talking. They didn't bother to keep their voices low, there was no reason for it. No houses were nearby, only closed up shops. There weren't many people to listen in on their talking, and the ones that did wouldn't care anyways. The conversations weren't about anything particularly interesting or important, just random stuff that only they cared about.
Another period of time passed and eventually they came across a large brick wall. It wasn't one of the old red brick walls, instead the surfaces was more of a creamy color. The perfect color for a canvas. Both of them set their bags down at the base of the wall and looked up at the structure before them. This area of town wasn't looked after very properly, considering as none of their earlier works had been painted over.
Exchanging a glance with each other and looking around to make sure no one else was near, the two opened their bags and fished around inside them. Security cameras weren't an issue; this was the more neglected side of the city. There weren't any extreme crime rates or anything, just pretty crappy surveillance systems. Each of them pulled out a can of spray paint, one can black and one can red. They got to work, each adding color to one of the untouched areas of the wall. Every week, the amount of wall these paintings took up grew a little more. Eventually, they would run out of room, but neither was really worried about that. The wall was fairly large and had plenty of empty space still.
Since graffiti wasn't exactly legal, and it was frowned upon greatly, they didn't really want to be caught. Unlike the walk it took to get there, they stayed rather quiet. That was partly because of how concentrated both of them were, and partly because words weren't really needed. They could talk anytime they wanted, but what they were doing now only happened once a week. So they put off the nonsense conversations for afterwords.
Sometimes, they would switch out the paint can for another color and continue. It really was a sight to see. Two young man spray painting a wall in the middle of the night. Both so focused on what they were doing. The art was by no means the type a gang would leave behind. It wasn't rude or threatening, instead beautiful and creative.
Somehow, they finished their works of art at almost the same time. They stepped back from the wall, looking up at the latest masterpieces.
"You drew your bird? Seriously?" Matthew couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey! Gilbird is awesome and deserves to be painted! Besides, maybe I'll do a picture of my other Birdie one day" he smiled, his statement making the other blush, a red tint spreading across his pale cheeks.
"Yeah right, You'd get us both caught and you know it"
"It'd still be pretty cool!.. Wow..." he looked at Matthew's drawing in slight, make that extreme, awe. Before him, the most brilliant painting he had ever seen expanded across a section of the brick wall. The way the reds, oranges, yellows, and blues mixed together made him want to melt, right then and there. It wasn't terribly realistic, it had been done in spray paint, after all. Still, looking at it, Gilbert could just image the scene. The sun setting, half of it already concealed behind the horizon. Water reflecting the hues of the sky, becoming a variety of colors, all of which mixed together in the slightest degree.
"... Y-You like it, then?" he seemed a bit self-conscious.
"I love it" Gilbert's voice was laced with stunned happiness. "You really are an artist"
"Merci" he switched into French, as he did sometimes, but Gilbert understood the thank-you anyways.
"We should probably get back now. It's later than usual"
"Yeah, I know." he sighed, brushing some of the wavy blonde hair out of his violet eyes.
They packed up all of their supplies and slung their bags over their shoulders again. Hand-in-hand, they treaded home. They lived close to each other, on the same street even. Which made having a meetup point somewhat pointless, but they didn't care. It was an excuse to spend more time out together. It was more fun anyways.
Much too soon, they had arrived at Matthew's house. It was nice and rather large, but not too big. Just the perfect size for his family of four.
"See you tomorrow, Birdie" Gilbert said with a kiss on the other's cheek. It was met with another blush, but Matthew didn't pull away, instead leaning into the touch slightly.
"Bye, Gil" his soft voice was like a silk. It made Gilbert smile. Reddish eyes looked into violet eyes one last time for the night, before the two parted ways, Matthew sneaking inside through his bedroom window and Gilbert walking off towards his own house.
These boys would meet up again, the same time and place next week. In the meantime, they would see each other during school and during a lot of their free time. Still, these secret midnight trips would always be the best to them. It was only them, no one else to bother them. Just two people who were very close, sneaking out to have a little fun.
Thanks for reading!