One week til performance day syrup! –Gil
Oh maple… -Matt
You guna come over later to rehearse? –Gil
Can't. I'm working today. –Matt
YOU HAVE A JOB? –Gil
Gilbert we've been friends for almost a month now and you know nothing about me. –Matt
Am I supposed to? You're not my husband. Where do you work? –Gil
Library –Matt
Which one? –Gil
You're NOT coming to where I work –Matt
I'll make your day awesome. –Gil
C'mon syrup. –Gil
Where do you work? –Gil
Maaaaattieee. –Gil
Where did you go!? –Gil

Matthew chuckled as Gilbert continuously spammed his phone for an hour as he put books on shelves. Matthew loved working at the library, it was quiet, there were books everywhere and he got paid. It was perfect. Matthew smiled to himself as he took a couple books off the shelf and placed them on his cart. And then of course, like some cliché from a movie, on the other side of the shelf was Gilbert's smirking face.
"Found you syrup." He smirked.
"Oh maple…" Matthew blushed heavily, "H-How did you find me?"
"How do you think?"
"Alfred…" Matthew sighed as Gilbert came to his side of the shelf. "Gil…you can't be here I'm working…"
"Who says I'm here for you? I'm here to check out a book!" Gilbert said, nonchalantly picking up a random book, which happened to be on bird watching. Gilbert opened it to a random page and grinned.
"Oh so you like birds…?" Matthew raised an eyebrow, placing more books on the shelves.
"Yeah. I have a bird. Have I not introduced you to him? He's awesome!" Gilbert grinned, following Matthew around the library.
"Oh cool…" Matthew murmured, he normally hated when people talked to him while he was working, but he found that talking to Gilbert was never anything but fun.
"Hello Matthew." A small Japanese guy smiled slightly from behind the checkout desk.
"Oh…hey Kiku. Gil, this is my boss."
"I'm awesome Gilbert. Hey, Can Matthew take a lunch break?" Gilbert leaned against the counter.
"Sure, he normally works through his lunch break anyways. Be back in an hour ok Matthew?" Kiku smiled.
"Oh no no it's fine r-"
"C'mon syrup!" Gilbert grabbed Matthew's hand and began to run with him in tow.
"Gilbert! Where are we going?" Matthew yelled as they ran through the streets of Manhattan, dodging people and the occasional car. "Gilbert slow down!"
"Slowing down is for the weak!" Gilbert cackled before stopping. "We're here."

"…The Empire State building?" Matthew looked up at the building, still holding Gilbert's hand.
"Yeah! I've always wanted to go up there and be as awesome as King Kong!" Gilbert grinned, pulling Matthew into the lobby of the building, it was packed with tourists as usual.
"Gilbert there's no way we can get up there in under an hour. The line ups for this thing are always insane..."
"I'm a Beilschmidt. I can go wherever I want!" Gilbert grinned, walking up to the girl selling tickets. "Gilbert Beilschmidt. We need to get up there fast."
"I-I'm sorry…?" The ticket girl said softly.
"I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt!" He glared at the girl.
"Uhm." The girl seemed to be trying to figure out who he was.
"Gilbert it's fine…I'll take you here some other time…ok?" Matthew tugged on Gilbert's arm, worried he was going to cause a scene.
"No Syrup it's ok she must have just forgotten. My mother is Holy? The singer? My Brother is Ludwig Beilschmidt!" Gilbert said, raising his voice a little. Matthew frowned, Gilbert didn't seem angry. He seemed upset, lost even.
"Holy? Oh my gosh I loved her in that movie 'Hey Mama!'" The ticket girl grinned. "But I thought Ludwig was her only son…"
Gilbert's face dropped like he had just been shot.
"N-No…Ludwig is my brother!"
"C-C'mon Gil let's go ok?" Matthew tugged on his arm again.
"No! You have to have heard of me! I-I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt! I'm awesome! I-I'm Ludwig's brother!" Matthew couldn't stand seeing Gilbert like this, the rock solid, cocky personality that Gilbert always managed to uphold so well was slowly beginning to crack.
"S-Sir I'm sorry but…you'll have to wait in line like everyone else…"
"But…But I'm a Beilschmidt too! You have to have heard of me! You have to have seen me before! I-I'm in magazines too! I'm a star! Just like Ludwig! He's not any better than me y'know! I can do everything he can! Someone here has to have seen me somewhere!" Gilbert yelled, turning to face the small crowd of people in line.
"Gil please! C'mon!" Matthew held Gilbert by his shoulders. "Look at me. I see you. Ok? I know who you are and you are awesome. Let's go alright…?" Matthew said firmly, he hated seeing Gilbert like this. All he wanted was some recognition. Gilbert simply nodded and Matt linked arms with him and lazily pulled him out of the building. They walked down the sidewalk silently for a bit before Matthew decided to break the silence.
"Hey…we still have like 45 minutes…wana introduce me to your bird?"
"You wana meet Gilbird?" Gilbert suddenly grinned at Matt, slipping back into his usual persona.
"Your bird's name is Gilbird?" Matthew laughed and Gilbert blushed a little. He'd never seen Matthew laugh so freely before. Gilbert decided right there that he wanted to hear that laugh more often.
"Well yeah syrup! An awesome name for an awesome bird! Plus I named him when I was like…7" Gilbert chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets as they walked down the sidewalk. Gilbert thought back to his conversation with Francis from 2 weeks ago.

"Gilbert did you just say love?"
"Yes! Francis I've only known this guy a couple weeks but he's driving me crazy!"
"Crazy? How do you feel when you are with him?"
"I-I don't know! Like…happy! He's so goddamn cute and he wears these dorky sweaters with animals on them and he makes me laugh and when he smiles I smile too and if I'm the one that makes him smile then my whole freaking day just gets a billion times more awesome! He's unlike any person I've ever met Franny! H-He doesn't care about celebrities! Or being famous! H-He doesn't like mein bruder more than he likes me! No one ever sees him and people walk all over him but he doesn't even care! Whenever someone bumps into him or ignores him I just...I want to fucking deck them! This is so not awesome!"
"Oh…mon cher…you are in love."

"Syrup?"
"Yeah?"
"…I'm sorry for all that. Guess that chick just doesn't know awesomeness when she sees it." Gilbert forced a smile. He couldn't get over what Matthew had said to him.

I see you.

For some reason those words were enough to calm Gilbert down. Those words were Gilbert's undoing. Gilbert suddenly stopped walking, he felt like his heart was going to explode. Matthew stopped when he realized Gilbert had and took a shaky breath as he looked at Gilbert.
"G-Gil? You ok?" Matthew said softly, shaking Gilbert's shoulder. Gilbert stood motionless, trying to process the thousands of thoughts running through his mind. Matthew saw him. Matthew knew him. Matthew cared about him. Matthew was his friend. Matthew was everything he wasn't. Matthew wanted to hang out with him. Matthew laughed at his jokes. Matthew smiled when he did. Matthew was beautiful. Matthew had seen him upset and stayed with him. Matthew. Matthew. Matthew.
Gilbert blinked a few times and stared into Matthew's slightly purple eyes, realizing he wanted to wake up every morning and have those eyes be the first thing he saw. He wanted to be part of every romance movie cliché with Matthew. He wanted to kiss him in the rain, watch the stars with him, run to his house in a thunderstorm to tell him he loved him, to throw pebbles at his window in the dead of night to ask him on a date, dance with him in an empty arena. He wanted everything and nothing to be with Matthew. Fuck.
"Matthew…" Gilbert started.
"Yeah...?"
No. He couldn't love Matthew. Matthew wouldn't get him famous.
"I…Nothing. I just kinda remembered I uh…I'm going on a date later. I should go get ready." Gilbert winked and began to walk away before Matthew grabbed him.
"Gil! Y-You're just guna leave?" Matthew frowned.
"Yeah. The chick is pretty hot." Gilbert lied. Matthew's heart shattered and he let go of Gilbert's arm, his whole body going slightly limp.
"Oh. Ok…I'm guna uhm…go back to work then. I'll see you on Monday…" Matthew forced a smile as Gilbert walked away without another word.


My note to you:
Ahh so close yet so far! Don't you just want to smush their faces together until they're happy!?
Will the 2 lovebirds FINALLY get together in the next chapter?
We'll see.
Are you enjoying this so far?
I sure hope so!
Thanks for reading and stay tuned to see just how Matthew feels about Gilbert ditching him...