Disclaimer: Tottaly not mine, if it was Netherlands/Canada would be canon, and Canada wouldn't be invisible.
AN: sorry i didn't get around to publishing new chapters, since i am deone with school i should have abit more time to write. Also i would like to thank NinjaMatty for beta-ing my chapters and my horrible grammar.
Chapter 4
The tour started with what was supposed to be a brief history of the corporation that ended up not being so brief. Apparently, this group was ancient. It had been mentioned quite often through history but under different names each time. They just changed their names ever so often so the corporation would never be recognized. Marie was reciting it from memory, as if she were a tour guide. Matt laughed inwardly at the thought of regular Joes walking these halls as if it were a museum.
Marie stopped for a second and regarded Matthew. She smiled again and went on about how they lost many Sorcerers in witch hunts. At this, Matt thought of Arthur. It was hard to picture someone like him tied to a tree to be burnt to a crisp. It also made him sad to think that, but he continued to pay attention to Marie's lectures. She would inject the recited history with little comments of 'that's the weapons room' and similar wordings, but she would never elaborate on it. Soon, she finished with present day exploits, skipping over how the hunters were much stronger than before. Matthew had already guessed that.
"This is the training room," she pointed at a window of a gym-like setting. Some of the equipment was being used at the moment. Matt blinked at the speed the people training were running around the track or how fast they were punching. Then, he noticed Lars' shape beating up a punching bag with solid hard punches. His hands were wrapped in bandages but nothing else. Matt took this moment to appreciate what he looked like out of his bulky coat, seeing as the Dutchman just had a tight black sleeveless shirt and brilliant orange pants on. With a thick leg, he dealt a powerful kick. The Canadian could almost see the muscles moving over each other in a strange yet enchanting grace.
Lars must've felt he was being watched because he stopped the swigging bag of sand to look at the pair. Marie made an annoyed noise and grabbed Matt's arm.
"Come on," she said pleasantly, but Matt stood still, giving a tentative wave that Lars nodded to. With Marie's persistent tugging though, he soon followed her to the commons room. Now, Matthew wasn't in the mood for a tour anymore and he barely registered what she was saying. He was thinking of Lars.
Matthew couldn't stop himself from thinking that Lars probably was being civil to him only out of duty. It must be a really odd twisted form of Florence Nightingale effect; the Hunter was just doing his job. This thought really hurt him and it must've been apparent because Marie stopped talking to stare at the boy with a very worried expression on her face.
"We're going to go to the cafeteria!" she smiled happily and tugged him down a hall; she must have misread him, thinking he was getting hungry.
They walked into a very spacious but homey room with white and blue walls. Long tables were arranged in rows were few people were seated, eating and talking between themselves quietly. Matt's stomach grumbled at the smell of the food. It was such a good smell. As usual, the sun lamps were lit. Matt wondered how Alistair ate...drank? With these sun lamps around.
"Do they turn off at night, for Alistair?" he asked Marie who blinked then giggled.
"They switch to Florescent," she said, pointing up to the ceiling at the two different rows of lamps. One was turned off.
"I see," Matt nodded and felt relieved.
"Yoooooo!" Came a loud boisterous voice from behind them. "Can't wait here all day! I'm fucking starving!"
Matt turned around to see the palest man ever, with blood red eyes. He immediately thought about a vampire, because of his eyes, but looking up at the sunlamps the boy concluded this couldn't be. Confused, he looked at Marie for an explanation.
"You have such a way with words Gilbo," Marie chuckled and punched the newcomer on the shoulder.
"Of course, I'm totally awesome! So this is the super special vampire bait, eh?" he bended over slightly to get a better look at Matthew's face. His annoyed expression showed that he didn't like being called vampire bait.
"The vampire bait has a name!" He snapped. Something about the way the man talked really unnerved him.
"And an attitude!'' the man called 'Gilbo' straightened up again and raised a brow in amusement. "So what's your name?" he humoured the blond Canadian.
"Matthew Williams," the vampire bait huffed and crossed his arms. The expression on Matt's face, such a childish pouting expression, made Marie laughed. The white-haired man snickered.
"Nice to meet ya Mattie Williams. Gilbert Beillschmidt, the one and only Dampyre, the pleasure is all yours," Gilbert smirked and on that note, pushed pass them to get in line for the food.
"Is he always so...?" Matt wondered, following Marie down the line to receive a plate of those good smelling potatoes and roast.
"Arrogant? Yes" Marie chuckled leading him to a free table after they had gotten their lunch. "But don't say that to his face. He will get annoyed and it's less trouble just to agree that he's awesome," she explained. The conversation trailed off and she looked at Matthew dig in. He hadn't had a roast this good since his childhood, when his mother used to make it every Sunday.
"So he's a narcissist?" he said, swallowing.
"Yup, pretty much" Marie chuckled again then grabbed the back of Matt's head so he would look at her and reached over to wipe the gravy at the corner of his mouth.
"Much better! We can now see your pretty face!" she smiled brightly. Matthew blushed again. Her expression suddenly turned cold. Surprised, he looked around and saw the reason.
Lars had walked in. Matthew wondered why the siblings didn't get along as Marie and the Dutchman glared at each other.
"You finished?" Marie asked getting up, as if wanting to get out of there.
"Um..." Matthew looked at his full plate. "No?'' he stated like a question.
"Oh," Marie restlessly sat back down and started drumming her fingers on the table, staring at the Canadian, trying to communicate her impatience through it.
Soon, a shadow fell over both of them and Matt looked up at Lars' face.
"It's hard to eat when you're being glared at. Maybe you should go back to the desk and let the kid eat," the tall hunter said sternly to his sister who glared at him.
"But the boss told me to take him on a tour!" she argued, very much like a child.
"He wants you back at the desk, I'll take over," Lars said in such away that dared his sister to disapprove.
Marie huffed in protest but stood up, defeated. She gave them one last black look, as if saying she wasn't going to give up, then walked off.
Lars took her seat and sighed. Matthew noticed his hair was still moist from the shower but was somehow sticking up in its usual way.
Without an explanation about the scene, Lars started to eat his sister's leftovers then looked at Matt, wondering why he wasn't doing the same. While looking at the Dutchman out the corner of his eye, Matthew started to eat again, eyes resting on the spiky hair that was still moist from his post workout shower.
Matt swallowed what was in his mouth and placed the fork down gently. He voiced the question that was on his mind.
"Does your hair always do that?" he pressed his lips together as his eyebrows furrowed in earnest curiosity.
"Do what?" Lars swallowed before looking up, confused.
"That," Matt said, using his hands to gesticulate what he meant."spike up naturally, or do you use some sort of product?" he added, to alleviate Lars' growing confusion.
"Oh...I use products" Lars frowned and looked up at his hair. He pulled a spike down to stare at it then let it go. Matt watched it spring up back into place. Must be pretty good stuff. ''It looks so soft and touchable,'' the Canadian mused, holding back the need to touch it.
"Huh" Matt blinked, continued to stare. Lars smirked and petted Matthew's hair slowly.
"Speaking of hair, is yours naturally soft?" the Dutchman continued to smirk.
Matthew blushed deeply and sputtered, but nodded. His hair was bobbing in soft waves. His scalp tingled from where that warm calloused hand touched him. That tingle soon travelled to his whole body.
Lars, Matt noticed, started on his second plate. He guessed the hunter was pretty hungry. At Matthew's look, Lars gave a soft soundless chuckle.
"Being a hunter, as you said, is tough," The Dutchman stated as an explanation to his large appetite.
Matt smiled again. Even though Lars wasn't as social as Marie was, he was good to be around.
"I'll show you the courtyard," Lars suddenly said when Matthew was actually done eating. Matt nodded and got up to help the large man in the cleaning up of the table. When this was done, they placed their used plates in a plastic tub above the garbage bin.
Matthew couldn't help but compare the siblings. Lars was so very different from his sister that it was hard to tell if they really were related or not. There was something about the brother that he found much more appealing than about the sister; some strong animal magnetism that Marie lacked: something wild, truly untamed. Of course, she showed some of this, but to a lesser extent than Lars.
A little urge in Matthew made him want to touch Lars, to see if he could. It was like wanting to touch a bear or a wolf. They looked beautiful, but always from afar; otherwise they would rip you apart.
No, Matt thought, he promised that he would never hurt me. Sure, he reasoned, he also said he would never harm a human being. Something about the way Lars had said this made the Canadian warm inside.
Lars looked over to him, seeing as he lagged behind slightly.
"Do you want me to slow down again?" he asked.
Was it too much to hope? This was what Matt asked himself. He swallowed and looked back at the Hunter, standing, waiting for him.