"All right, first question... When's your birthday?"
"July first."
"Favorite color?"
"Red."
"Any siblings besides the moron?"
"Nope."
"Best friend?"
"Not really..."
Gilbert paused his drill of questions in frustration. "Dammit Birdie, you should have tons of friends!"
Matthew cringed. "I'm sorry... It's just that I'm really quiet, so people don't notice me. It's my fault-"
"No it's not! It's everybody else! If they weren't so loud then they could hear you, but they're too caught up with their own stupid lives to see how awesome you are. People are just retarded..." The ghost glared daggers at the ceiling and breathed deeply to calm down. Damn... he needed to stop getting worked up over Birdie.
"… Um… Gilbert? Questions?"
"Oh... yeah..."
The interrogation went on, and the ghost learned a lot about Matthew's life. Like how he got excellent marks in school, how he loved hockey and wanted to play but was too shy to try out, and how sometimes his father wouldn't notice him for weeks at a time because sometimes he forgot his own child existed. It was enough to make Gilbert want to cry, but he was too awesome to do that. Being shy was one thing, but being ignored by almost everyone? That was a new level of depressing. And the worst part was that he acknowledged everything as if it was normal, even going so far as to blame himself for being invisible. It was infuriating, and Gilbert wouldn't stand for it.
Gilbert swore to himself that he would get Matthew noticed no matter what it took. He was way too nice to go without a single friend. Then again, how could he get the kid a friend when the ghost was invisible? That would prove a problem-
"Hey, Gil?" Birdie asked nervously. "I-I mean, if it's okay for me to call you that..."
The albino waved off his worry. "Don't sweat, kid. Call me whatever you want. Now, what is it?"
Matthew fidgeted anxiously. "Well... I was just wondering..." he started quietly. "Are... are we... friends?" he finished, almost inaudible now.
Gilbert went rigid and glanced at the guy whose gaze was focused on the floor, face burning red. What was he talking about? Of course they were friends! Wasn't the whole point of this "haunting" thing to give the kid someone to talk to?
"Birdie... of course we are..." Gilbert responded, surprised that his voice came out a lot softer than he'd intended. As if to shock himself further, he continued with "If you want to… we can be best friends, I guess."
Matthew's head jolted up as he stared wide-eyed at the albino.
"You… you mean it?"
"Yeah."
Gilbert said it so nonchalantly, and he was sure that Birdie wouldn't make a big deal out of this, so he was thoroughly shocked when the blonde's eyes welled up with tears and spilled down his cheeks.
"H-holy shit, dude, are you okay? L-look, forget I said anything-"
"No!" Matthew yelled. A giddy smile was spreading across his face, and he let out a shaky laugh. "No, I'm just… really happy. Th-thanks for saying that, Gilbert."
Needless to say, the ghost was confused beyond reason, but he didn't question the young man on his sudden happy outburst, opting instead to check the time.
"Holy crap, Birdie! It's already four! When did your brother say he was coming home?"
"He, uh, didn't say…" Matthew fidgeted some more. "He'll probably be home before dark, though."
Gilbert hummed to himself absently, letting the blond know he'd heard him. The two sat in silence for a while, simply enjoying each other's company. Moments like this were nonexistent for Gilbert since his death, and he realized just how lonesome he really was.
This was... nice.
"Hey, Birdie." The ghost broke the peaceful silence.
"Yeah, Gil?"
"... Thanks."
~Some months later...~
It was spring now. The weather was mild, the trees were in bloom, and everything felt fresh and warm after the cold winter. This particular spring day found Matthew all but skipping home from school, an ecstatic smile plastered on his face. Something big had happened at school, and he couldn't wait to get home to tell Gilbert.
He ran up to his house excitedly, yanking open the door and yelling, "Gil! I'm home!" into the kitchen. The ghost popped his head around the doorway leading to the hall with a fond smirk.
"Hey, Birdie. Good day at school?"
Matthew gave an enthusiastic nod and met the Gilbert at the threshold. "Yeah! You won't believe what happened!" he babbled on his way to his room. The two entered the room, and the blond dropped his bag on the floor.
"Well, what is it?" the ghost chuckled, "You don't normally have awesome days like this. The suspense is killing me." he joked.
"Today, I finally made..." Matthew paused for dramatic effect, "... a friend at school! Isn't that great?"
A grin split Gilbert's face. "Fuck yeah, Birdie! That's awesome! What's the guy's name?"
"Uh, not a guy, a girl. Her name's Katy. She's really nice, and kind of shy like me. Oh, she's a foreign exchange student from Ukraine, isn't that cool? We talked a lot during lunch today and it turns out we have a lot of the same classes, and... Gil? You okay?" Matthew noticed that during his gushing, the ghost's grin slowly faded, and now he looked deep in thought.
"Oh... yeah! I'm awesome! Don't worry!" Gilbert quickly put on a forced smile, but Matthew wasn't buying it.
"Gil, seriously, what's wrong?" The fake smile fell, and he looked down. Suddenly, it clicked. "Gil, are you afraid she's gonna be my best friend?" Matthew lifted his hand to rest it on the ghost's shoulder. "You know I would never do that, I'm not replacing you with her-"
"That's not it, don't you get it?" Gilbert suddenly snatched out and grabbed the blond's wrist from his shoulder. Matthew's eyes widened.
"G-Gilbert?" he stuttered, "Wh-what are you talking about?"
"I… It's just…" The ghost sighed and looked down, but he kept his hold on Matthew's hand. "Just… forget it, okay? It doesn't matter anyway…" Matthew thought he noticed a blush make its way to the albino's face. "Don't make me keep you from having a girlfriend…"
For a moment, Matthew was in shock. A girlfriend? Gilbert thought that he saw Katy as a girlfriend? Sure, she was nice, and cute, but… he just couldn't think of her that way.
"Gilbert, it's not like that, I swear. There's a better chance of me dating you than going out with her." Matthew chuckled nervously as Gilbert's face continued to deepen in color. "Gil, please, what is it? What can I do?"
The ghost didn't respond, and pulled the blond a step closer so they were only a few inches apart. Matthew's heart pounded against his ribcage in excitement. Excitement for what, he didn't know, but Gilbert was just so close, and his breath came faster, and he was probably blushing red as a tomato, and-
"Birdie, I want… to try something…"
Matthew didn't have time to protest when suddenly the short distance between the two was closed, and he felt the warmth of the ghost's lips gently press against his. His eyes widened in surprise, and he was completely frozen, unsure of what to do. How did one react to being kissed by your male best friend of several months who also happened to be a ghost? Should he pull away? Get angry? Do nothing?
… Kiss him back…?
Somehow… his heart jumped at the thought of the last option. He didn't know if it was wrong. Didn't this count as necrophilia? But if this was wrong, then why did every part of his mind scream that it was so right and wonderful?
He realized then that Gilbert was still waiting for his reaction, and so he abandoned all of his thoughts and followed his gut.
Matthew leaned in and tentatively pressed back, letting his eyes slip closed. Gilbert's lips upturned slightly against his own at the positive reaction, and he let go of the blond's wrist, placing his hands on the other's hips and pulling the two of them even closer together. Matthew sighed into the kiss and wrapped his arms around the ghost's waist in a sudden spark of boldness.
Every touch was like fire against his skin. Butterflies flitted around wildly in his stomach, and his head swam with the emotion that he'd been keeping a secret from himself and Gilbert for too long. He felt like he would melt at any second. This... this was bliss...
Good things must come to an end, however, and after what felt like an eternity, Gilbert finally pulled away. He drew a shaky breath and opened his eyes, violet meeting crimson. The ghost opened his mouth to say something, but Matthew beat him to it.
"I love you!" he squeaked. "I-I've loved you for a while now... I think... I just didn't realize it..." How could he not fall helplessly in love with the first person who ever gave a damn about him? Sure, he could be annoying and arrogant and loud sometimes… well, most of the time. But he was encouraging and thoughtful a lot, too. Most of all he was confident, something Matthew knew he would never be, and he looked up to Gilbert for it.
The ghost wrapped Matthew in a strong bear hug, lifting him a few inches into the air. "Yes! And you really mean it?"
The blond yelped in surprise and giggled at being picked up. "G-Gilbert! Yeah, I mean it! Now put me down!" Gilbert obliged, and smiled the hugest smile Matthew had ever seen. "Why would you think I would lie to you about something like that?" he asked, honestly curious. The albino shrugged.
"Unawesome person from when I was alive decided it would be fun to mess with me." He scowled. "Stupid bitch went and cheated on me with a friend of mine." Matthew almost thought about being jealous that Gilbert had had a girlfriend in the past, but the way he seemed to hate her guts now changed his mind.
"I'm sorry?" Matthew tried. Gilbert chuckled.
"Don't be, Birdie. That was a long time ago, I'm completely over it." The ghost smiled again, and Matthew knew he must be telling the truth.
…
"Well, mostly…"
"GIL!"
"Kidding! Kidding… Ow, don't hit me…"
AN: Short chapter is short, I'm so sorry... BUT, their relationship kicks off in this chapter! That makes up for it, right? Next chappie will be longer, I promise.
Ugh, also, that kiss took forever to write. I don't have much expertise in that area, so any advice is greatly appreciated!
I gotta give a shout-out to all of my lovely fave-ers and subscribers! I wasn't expecting this much of a response... this story only has about a third of the words that Vocaloid does, and yet there are more alerts! Why is that...?
Anyway, please stay tuned for the next chapter!
~Jel
