Shinigami-cat: So… here's the next chapter… I OWN NOTHING!

Morgue

The end of school bell had just rung and Gilbert was gathering his things from his locker. As he was gathering his stuff tanned hand snaked their way up his shirt and tickled. Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Nope. It isn't going to work Antonio. I'm not ticklish."

The tanned hands moved away and Antonio, said owner of the hands, pouted. "What kind of person isn't ticklish?" Antonio was one of Gilbert's closets friends. He was the same age as Gilbert but was just a little taller than him. He had tanned skin, chocolate brown hair and bright green eyes. Antonio was a happy guy that everyone liked.

"Gilbert, obviously." Said a slightly seductive male voice. The owner of the voice was Gilbert's other friend Francis. He had bright blue eyes, long wavy blond hair and a little chin stubble. He was a big flirt and would use his ability to seduce others for his entertainment. He wasn't a bad person and would never take anything too far. He just liked seeing how far he could push the boundaries.

Gilbert grinned. "Well that's because I'm awesome. You two ladies doing anything after school?"

"Assignments." Said Francis and Antonio in unison. In all honesty Gilbert should have been doing his assignments too, but he worked better when he had less than a day to do stuff. That's how he kept his C average.

The albino chuckled a little and gathered the last of his books. "Good luck with that you two. I have better stuff to do."

"Going to visit Matthew?" Asked Francis curiously.

Gilbert blushed a little and nodded. "Ja… What of it?"

Antonio chuckled a little. "Seriously amigo, when are you going to tell him? It's been years, like way before he went loco."

"Don't call him that." Hissed Gilbert darkly. If there was one thing that really pissed him off it was when people called Matthew crazy. Matthew wasn't crazy, insane, mad, loco or any other offensive term.

"Sorry…" Muttered Antonio.

Francis rolled his eyes and slung his arm over Antonio's shoulder. "Don't be so harsh on him Gilbert. We know you don't like to call him those things, but when someone starts screaming about monsters and is forced to go to an asylum… Their sanity is questioned quite a bit."

Gilbert rolled his eyes and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Whatever… I'm going now. So you guys later."

As he walked out to the bike rack everyone else parted like the red sea to let him through. He was known throughout the school as being a badass, but ever since he got back from juvenile detention everyone had pretty much been scared of him. He had only been there for about a month. Not even a year and for some reason that meant he was bad news.

He didn't even know why he got sent to juve in the first place. Sure he caused a fair bit of property damage to the school and broke someone's arm and some other kid had to get stitches, but that was about it. He was just lucky that his grandfather was the vice principle or he would have had to gone all the way into Rivertown to go to school. That would have sucked.

He got on his bike and started to make his way back to Matthew's house. On the way there he stopped off at a corner shop and bought some juice. Since Matthew didn't eat much, drinking was the next best option. Vitamin C and all that.

When he eventually got to Matthew's house he texted him and yanked on the bell-pull. A few seconds later the blond opened the door. He looked the same as he did yesterday, but his eyes seemed brighter. That was always a good sign. "Come on in, Gil."

Gilbert smiled and walked inside. "How are you today Birdie? You sounded pretty chipper on the phone."

"I've had a good day so far." Said Matthew quietly. "Hey um… Kuma wants pancakes, so can I make some?"

"Of course." Said Gilbert. He loved it when Matthew cooked. Cooking seemed to calm Matthew down a lot and for a time, whatever the poor boy seemed to see disappeared.

Matthew smiled brightly and walked off to the kitchen. "Thanks Gilbert."

"No problem Birdie." Said Gilbert as he followed him. Although Matthew was a good cook and knew his way around the kitchen there was always the chance he would space out and set something on fire by accident. That's the whole reason Samuel won't let Matthew cook in the first place.

Gilbert sat on the counter as he watched Matthew gather everything he needed for the pancakes. As Matthew was working, Gilbert noticed a small ashtray full of cigarette butts. "So Samuel's still taking cancer sticks?"

"Yeah…" Muttered Matthew sadly. "Well at least he's not drinking, right? Beer and wine give him headaches… Besides he's so stressed all the time. Sometimes I think it would be best if I just disappeared…"

Matthew had a tendency to talk like that when he thought he was causing problems for everyone else. As far as Gilbert knew he never acted on them, but it still worried him when Matthew was stuck in such a dark mindset.

"It's his own fault." Said Gilbert casually. "If he wasn't so busy all the time he could take a moment or two to chill out and relax. He's like working ten hour shifts a day isn't he? He really needs some time off. Take a sick day or something and chill."

Matthew chuckled a little as he poured the batter into the frying pan. "I guess so. It would be nice to spend more than a few hours with him… At least he has Fridays and Sundays off." Matthew had always cared very deeply about his uncle, seeing as how he was the only family he had left in the world. He would always do his best to make his uncle happy, but these days it was almost impossible to make Samuel smile.

"It's okay Birdie." Said Gilbert calmly. "Let's talk about something else instead of that depressing stuff." He took the bottle of orange juice he bought for Matthew out of his backpack and put it on the counter. "I got you something to drink on the way here… Thought you might like it better than water."

Matthew chuckled a little as he stacked the pancakes up on three different plates. "Thank you Gilbert. That's sweet of you to think of me."

A small blush made its way onto Gilbert's face. "Yeah, well… I'm awesome and awesome people don't forget their awesome friends."

This made Matthew smile a little. "Thanks for sticking by me Gilbert… I know it must be hard to have a friend who's so… so like me… I really don't deserve your friendship."

Gilbert smiled a little, but it didn't reach his eyes. In his mind Matthew had it backwards. Gilbert felt that he didn't deserve to have someone as kind as Matthew as his friend. "You make it really difficult sometimes Birdie."

Matthew tilted his head to the side slightly, as if he was processing some complicated maths problem. It was cute, but also a little concerning. It always took Matthew a little longer than usual to understand what was being said around him. It reminded Gilbert a little of a computer, filtering through the words to pick up the key points and then at the end of it all he would come to a relatively appropriate response for the answer.

"I see…" Muttered Matthew. He got some forks and maple syrup, putting them on the counter. "I'll be back… I just need to get Kuma." He walked out of the room and returned shortly with his toy.

Gilbert didn't particularly like Kuma that much, but he knew how much he meant to Matthew so he didn't say anything. His main reason for disliking Kuma was that Matthew thought he was alive. Kuma was a toy. A stuffed polar bear for crying out loud. Children pretend that stuffed animals are real. Not teens. For a teenager to cling so much to toy was just odd.

To take his mind off the toy, Gilbert drowned his food in syrup and started to eat. Matthew's cooking was the best. "This is awesome Birdie, like always." Said Gilbert happily. This made Matthew smile as he ate. When they were done Gilbert put the dishes in the dishwasher. "So should I catch you up on what you're missing at school yet?"

Matthew frowned for a moment. "I um… I actually wanted to show you something… In my room first… If that's okay with you…"

This was new. Matthew actually sounded nervous for once about showing Gilbert something. The small blond knew he could show anything to Gilbert without the other getting angry at him. "Sure."

Matthew smiled a little. "Okay… Just wait here for a second… I want to show you something I found first. It'll only take a second I promise." Before Gilbert could answer Matthew had already run up the hall to his room. To occupy his time, Gilbert ate the pancakes left out for Kuma. It wasn't like the toy could eat them.

'Wonder what he wants to show me…' Wondered Gilbert. 'Maybe a bug he caught or something.' A few moments later Matthew had returned to the kitchen holding a skull in his hands. Not a plastic one. A real human skull. Gilbert had no idea what to think. He just looked at the skull then back to Matthew in shock.

Matthew nervously played with his hair. "Well… um… this is part of what I wanted to show you…"

"Did you wind it under the floor boards or something?" Asked Gilbert in slight horror. "How the hell did you get that?"

Matthew blushed a little. "No, I actually found it in my wall." Noticing the confused expression on his face, Matthew smiled and held his hand out to Gilbert. "Come on. It's hard to explain unless you see it."

Cautiously Gilbert took Matthew's hand and let the blond lead him into his room. When they got there Matthew walked over to his wardrobe and pushed the clothes away. Right at the back of the wardrobe was a door with no doorknob and it was covered in chipped plaster. In old houses it wasn't uncommon for doors to get sealed off from the rest of the house.

Matthew easily pushed open the door and looked back at Gilbert. "You might want to get a flashlight or something. It's pretty dark down here and your eyesight kind of sucks in the dark…"

"I know." Said Gilbert. He grabbed a flashlight off Matthew's bedside table and walked back over to him. "So… What's down there?"

The smaller blond smiled a little. "It's actually pretty cool… Did you know that there used to be a morgue here and that the previous owner built his house around the morgue?"

This was new to Gilbert. He would have to check that later. "No…"

For some reason this made Matthew's smile grow wider. "Cool. Now I have something awesome to show you." With that Matthew disappeared through the door. Gilbert sighed inwardly and followed Matthew. There was a small set of steps that travelled downwards. With the flashlight Gilbert could easily see Matthew opening the door at the bottom.

"You sure we should be down here?" Asked Gilbert as he followed Matthew.

Matthew shrugged. "Well, I like it down here… and I've been coming here for ages. Mostly when I can't sleep at night… It's really peaceful down here."

Gilbert followed Matthew through the door and was surprised to say the least. It looked like a typical morgue with the tiled floors, metal tables and those weird cabinets in the wall used to keep bodies fresh, but there were a couple of pillows and even a bean bag in one corner. It seemed like Matthew did spend a fair bit of time down there if the candy wrappers were anything to go by.

As Gilbert looked around the place, Matthew happily walked over to a skeleton and stuck the skull back on. "The body was donated, so don't worry. I didn't dig it up anywhere."

"Does Samuel know about this place?" Asked Gilbert curiously.

Matthew shrugged. "I he knows he thinks I haven't found it yet." He sat down on a beanbag and sighed contently. "I like it here… It's quiet and everything is just… still."

Gilbert nodded a little. "Yeah it's a nice place… if you like dead things…"

"Oh…" Muttered Matthew. "I just thought you might like it… I mean I've cleaned it up heaps since I first found it and I've tried to make it look nice and everything…" A sad Matthew was not a happy Matthew.

Gilbert sighed and crouched down in front of Matthew. "Hey… Don't get upset. I think it's awesome that you showed me this place… I just don't really see the appeal of hanging out in an old morgue."

"It's okay…" Said Matthew sadly. "I guess not everyone would understand how it feels to be in a room that's so still and quiet… This is kind of why I didn't really want to tell you about this place… But Kuma said that you should probably know about it because you know pretty much everything else about me…"

Perhaps Kuma wasn't as big of a pain as Gilbert thought. "Well it was nice of Kuma to suggest that… I still think it's weird that you like this place, but if it makes you happy, I can't complain. Now let's get to that school stuff. We can stay here if you like."

Matthew smiled a little. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Okay then…" Gilbert took some books out of his backpack and sat next to Matthew. "So in maths the teacher revised Simpsons rule with us… You know FML."

Matthew nodded. "Yeah… I can't believe FML is actually a maths thing. What does it stand for again? First, middle, last?"

"Ja, or fuck my life." Said the albino.

Matthew chuckled a little and looked over Gilbert's note book. A small smile graced his face. "I remember this… You showed it to me before… Was that pretty much it?"

"Pretty much." Muttered Gilbert. "That was pretty much the only we did. Everything else was pointless talk about this and that… Anything interesting happening?"

"Nothing much." Said Matthew dreamily. "But I still think it is out there… It's becoming foggy in the mornings again… I worry about you Gilbert. You get up early in the morning. There's a chance it might try to take you too… I don't want you to go through what I went through…"

Gilbert sighed a little. 'What the hell is that thing? Why won't he just tell me already? It's not fair… I'm doing my best here.'

"I'm sorry." Whispered Matthew. "Please don't be upset…"

"I'm not upset." Said Gilbert. "I just… Find it hard that you don't tell me exactly what's wrong. I want to know what that thing is. You don't tell me anything about it at all. All I know is that it's dangerous and it attacked you."

Matthew gulped and looked away, shaking a little. "Please… don't make me describe it… I've been trying to forget what it looks like for so long…" His eyes started to dart around the room quickly as he pulled his knees to his chest. "I-I don't want to… I don't want to remember…"

"Shit…" Muttered Gilbert. He quickly picked Matthew up and held him close. "Sorry Birdie. I'm so sorry. Please don't freak out again. I'm sorry."

Matthew took a few deep breaths and calmed down a little. "I'm fine now, really…"

So many things could set the poor blond off. It just wasn't fair for him to suffer so much. Gilbert just wanted to help him and make everything better. But every time he tried to get close to him, to try and find out was haunting him, Matthew just shut him out. Was he not good enough for him or something? He needed to stop thinking those thoughts.

XoXoXo page brake oXoXoX

After about an hour Gilbert went home, just in time too. He saw Samuel's truck driving up the road. He resisted the urge to flip the old man the bird. He didn't feel like getting yelled at today. With a sigh he ended up traveling right back to his house. It was almost as large as Matthew's place, but it was just that much smaller.

His place was based more around the Gothic style as opposed to the Victorian style of Matthew's place. The majority of the interior was a grey stone coloured or black and white marble. Gilbert's younger brother had commented that it felt like living in a chess board.

Gilbert leaned his bike against the side of the house and opened the door. "The awesome me is back… Anyone home?"

"In here." Called a voice from the lounge room. With a grin Gilbert walked in there to see his brother scribbling down the last of his homework. His brother had short blond hair and bright blue eyes. Like most of the men in his family, his brother was pretty strict and a little up tight at times, but he was still a good kid. Gilbert could have been considered the black sheep of the family purely because of his loud and excitable attitude.

Gilbert walked up to his brother and messed up his hair a little. "More boring maths Ludwig? That's so boring. Do something fun for once. Hang out with some friends or something… You're friends with that Japanese kid and that Italian right? Hang out with them."

Ludwig sighed and rolled his eyes. "You mean Kiku and Feliciano right? Well Kiku's parents have grounded him because he scoured lower than his average and Feliciano's brother didn't want to be stuck home alone with their grandfather."

"Speaking of elders, has ours come by to make sure we haven't burnt down the place while or dear parents are away on yet another business trip?" Asked Gilbert curiously.

"Ja." Said Ludwig, not looking up from his homework. "He asked how you were, since he never sees you anymore and just made sure everything was still okay."

This made Gilbert smile a little. Their grandfather always took good care of them when their parents weren't around. Which was quite often. Gilbert didn't understand why they had kids if they had jobs that required them to travel a lot. It was weird, but it didn't matter to Gilbert. With them away he pretty much had run of the house, being the responsible big brother that he was.

Gilbert grinned. "Okay, well I'm going to cook dinner if you're still doing your stuff." He walked into the kitchen and grabbed some meat that was left defrosting in the fridge. It looked like they would be having some stir-fry chicken tonight, lazy person style. In other words boiled rice, cooked chicken strips and steamed vegetables mixed together with a fried egg.

With a small sigh he started to cook the chicken. 'It's forecast to be cold for the next few days… Damn it. It might start to get foggy in the morning again… The next few days are going to be hell… Poor Matthew…' He shook his head a little and tried to concentrate on cooking, but just thinking about the fog reminded him of Matthew's terrified shrieks as he was hauled off to the asylum.

TBC

Shinigami-cat: Yep… Not much I can say about this one… please review!