"I want… him."
Matthew nearly choked. "What!"
"What do you mean you want him," Gilbert shouted, a few pedestrians giving him weird looks as they passed.
"I mean what I said."
"I know that," Matthew started, still recovering from shock. "But what do you mean?"
"Do you want to know where he is or not?"
"Yes," Gilbert affirmed, annoyed. "But what do you mean?"
"I mean," the man started. "That he has information that I need."
Matthew glared at him. "What could I possibly know that you wouldn't?"
"We don't even know your name," Gilbert stated.
He glanced around then whispered, "It's Lukas."
"Okay, Lukas, what information do you need?"
"We can't talk about it here."
"Well where then?" Matthew was so close to just punching Gilbert in the face for getting him into this whole mess, and Lukas in the stomach for being so weird.
"Come with me." Lukas stood up, expecting Matthew to follow. Gilbert stood as well, but Lukas stopped him. "You stay."
Matthew looked back at Gilbert as they walked away, shrugging and following Lukas to God knows where.
"So what do you want to know?" Matthew was at his last string of patience with this Lukas guy. He had dragged them all over town, trying to find a place that wasn't so crowded, but on a Saturday, it wasn't likely. However, Lukas finally told him to sit down on a bench in the park, right outside the garden.
"Nothing. I just need to tell you something about Gilbert."
"Wait. How do you know his name? He didn't tell you."
"I remember him. How could anyone forget someone as annoying as him?"
"Good point. Anyway, what's with this whole secretive sneaking around thing? What do you want to tell me about Gilbert?"
Lukas glanced around again before answering quietly, "Don't trust him."
"What? What do you mean? Don't trust who?"
"Don't trust Gilbert."
"Why," Matthew questions, but in a flash, Lukas had disappeared. It was like he hadn't even been there at all. Matthew shrugged and decided he should probably get back to Gilbert, if he could even find his way back to the other bench.
He spent the whole walk trying to understand what Lukas had said. Don't trust Gilbert. Why wouldn't he trust Gilbert? He had known him for long enough. Then again, Matthew had no idea what Gilbert was going through those couple months he was missing. He could be a completely different person. Matthew didn't notice any changes in his behavior, but maybe Gilbert was just acting this whole time. Maybe none of this was really what was happening. What if Gilbert was on the side of the French and British guys and now they were coming after Matthew next? What if everyone—Gilbert, Lukas, the three men in the picture—Were all plotting against him, in one giant scheme to have him dead?
Damn it Matthew, snap out of it he told himself. He was pretty sure that that was not what was happening, but the thoughts still lingered in the back of his mind when he finally found the bench and Gilbert again.
He approached his boyfriend, preparing to apologize for losing Lukas, but when he looked again, The man was sitting next to Gilbert, talking about something.
"What was that about," he said to Lukas, who looked up, finally noticing him standing there.
"What do you mean?"
Matthew ignored him,sitting next to Gilbert and shaking his head, waiting for Lukas to go away.
"Anyway," Gilbert started. "You got what you wanted. Now, where's this guy." He pointed to his phone again.
Lukas closed his eyes and leant back in the bench. "His name's Matthias. You can find him at this address." He took out a sticky note and pen and wrote something down. He handed it to Gilbert and looked at Matthew, not saying anything, but Matthew got the hint.
Gilbert noticed and also looked at Matthew, but when he looked back to Lukas, he had disappeared again.
"How does he do that," Matthew asked, obviously not expecting Gilbert to know.
"I don't know, but I do know that we need to find this Matthias guy."
"Let me see that." Matthew grabbed the small pink piece of paper from Gilbert and looked at it. The only thing on it was supposedly Matthias's address. However Matthew notices a second piece of paper stuck to the back of it. When Gilbert wasn't looking, he flipped the top note up to read the bottom one.
Remember what I said
Shocked, Matthew quickly stuffed the second note into his pocket. "So should we go find this Matthias guy?"
"Yeah," Gilbert replied, standing up and grabbing Matthew by the hand. "Now where did we park again?"
After Matthew and Gilbert found the parking lot in which Matthew's car was, they started arguing over who should drive.
"It's my car," Matthew started. "You don't even know how addresses work, anyway."
Gilbert gasped taken aback. "Yes I do. And you drove on the way here. It's my turn."
"What are you? Five? I'm driving."
"No." Gilbert forced Matthew out of the way and threw himself into the driver's side of the car.
Matthew put his face in hands as he got in the passenger seat and slammed the door. "You are five. You're a child and you shouldn't be driving."
"Excuse you, I am 22 years old and my driving skills are awesome."
"You sure are immature for a 22 year old. I'm 19 and I am far more sophisticated than you."
"Wait," Gilbert started, looking at Matthew as they stood still at a stoplight. "You're only 19? Why didn't you tell me this?"
"Yes I'm 19, and I am sure that I have told you this at least seven times."
"You're a baby."
"I'm not a baby."
"Aw, you're so cute." Gilbert went to pinch the Canadians cheek but his hand was furiously swatted away.
"Light's green," Matthew muttered.
"Oh." Gilbert continued driving, and Matthew refused to speak to him.
"Did I make you mad?"
Matthew ignored him.
"I'm sorry."
Again, Matthew kept his eyes on the white line on the road outside the passenger window, ignoring Gilbert.
"You're not a baby. I was joking," Gilbert apologized, this time more serious. "Besides, you're the one who called me a five year old."
"But you know it's true." Matthew looked at Gilbert, smiling.
He shrugged and laughed. "Yeah it is."
"Well," Gilbert sighed. "Here we are."
It took them nearly three hours, but they finally found the place. It was a run-down apartment building that they wouldn't have ever guessed anyone lived in.
"So. Do we knock," Matthew suggested.
"Yeah. That seems like the best thing to do." Gilbert knocked twice, then, noticing the doorbell, rang that twice too.
The door unexpectedly swung open and the man they were looking for was standing there, in a white tank top and boxer shorts—a strange ensemble considering it was almost 5 PM.
"Can I help you two," he asked, sounding quiet exhausted, but at the same time, joyful.
"Yes. Um," Matthew started, figuring out the best way to state it. "We need to ask you a few questions, if that's alright with you."
"It won't take long," Gilbert added.
"Okay, come on in."
'This guy is way too trusting,' Matthew thought to himself. 'We could be murderers for all he knows.' But he shook the thought off as he stepped through the threshold.
"Have a seat." Matthias motioned to two ratty arm chairs, and the couple sat down, trying not to look too uncomfortable. The other man sat down on a sofa across from them, grabbing a bottle of beer from the coffee table. "You want one," He asked to both of them.
Matthew shook his head. "No, thanks."
"I'll have one," Gilbert replied.
"Okay. Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back."
After Matthias disappeared into the kitchen, Matthew glared at Gilbert, who noticed and jumped. "What."
"You know what happens when you drink."
"What? I get drunk."
"Not only that. You get aggressive. The next thing we need is you throwing chairs."
"I'm not going to throw any chairs."
"Yeah whatever," Matthew mumbled as Matthew reentered the living room and handed an open bottle of beer to Gilbert.
"Thanks." He took a sip and smiled at Matthew, who rolled his eyes.
"So before you go asking me a bunch of questions, I'm going to need to know your names."
"Oh." Gilbert looked at Matthew. "I'm Gilbert, and he's Matthew."
"I'm Matthias."
"We know," Matthew responded, not intending for it to come out as creepy as it did.
"Okay," Matthias started, glancing warily at Matthew. "What do you want to know?"
"Uh one second." Gilbert pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the picture. "Do you know these two guys?"
Matthias squinted and looked at the small screen. "Oh yeah. I know them."
"Well who are they," Gilbert asked, eager to finally find out.
"You seem to be out of beer," Matthias acknowledged. "Can I get you another one?"
Gilbert looked at the bottle in his hand, noticing it was empty. "Yes, please."
"Can I get you anything, Matthew?"
"Water would be nice." He smiled kindly, and Matthias was off to the kitchen again.
"How many beers are you going to have," Matthew whispered.
"This will be my last one. Why don't you lighten up a little?"
"Lighten up? I think you need to lighten down."
"Don't be so lame."
"I'm Lame? You're the one who—"
He was interrupted by Matthias entering the living room holding a beer in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
"Thank you," the two said in unison as Matthias handed them their drinks.
"They're names are Francis and Arthur," He answered as he sat back on the sofa. "I don't know much about them, but one day they pulled me off the streets and said they wanted to 'chat' with me."
Matthew chugged his entire glass of water. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day and he was starting to feel sick. "So do you know where they are," he questioned, however, he started to notice swirls on the wall, and his words were slurred.
"Matthew, are you okay," Gilbert asked, shaking his boyfriend's shoulder, but he started feeling tired as well, so he rested his head there instead. "Goodnight," he whispered before the two fell asleep.
"It worked," Matthias gasped, surprised "Oh my gosh it actually worked. Francis and Arthur will be so happy. They have to trust me now." He moved to the closet and searched through the junk for the rope he had put in there not long ago. When he found it he went back to the two sleeping on the chairs.
"I'm sorry," he whispered as he moved towards them.
A/N: Sorry this chapter is a couple days late. Like I said, I've been busy with other things and I haven't had time to write much. Since school is starting for me in two weeks, I may not be able to update as much in September, so if a chapter isn't published every Friday, it will definitely be publish by the next Tuesday. Anyway, I always appreciate reviews, whether they're critical or not, so thanks for those, and as always, hope you enjoyed this chapter!