Chapter 10

Children Of The Night - Razihel - Part Two

Matthew was shaking his head while leaning against the wall in the kitchen. Gilbert was telling a story about his time in Europe and Lovino was being pestered by Antonio.

Lovino pushed Antonio hopelessly and with very little effort. "This is why you don't hang out with these bastards on a Saturday."

Antonio sort of wrapped his arms around Lovino's waist. Lovino gave a half-hearted "Fuck off, Spaniard," and stopped struggling.

So, giving up hope on Lovino's case, Matthew listened to Gilbert's partially-drunken telling of his European tour.

"There was this one person down in Spain," Gilbert started, "He was like, all chill and shit-"

"My brother!" Antonio interrupted.

"Yeah, him." Gilbert nodded. "Anyway, he brought us to this weird ass bar in - 'Toni, where was it?"

"Hm... I don't remember! It was creepy though, I really didn't like it there..."

Lovino promptly rolled his eyes. "Idiot."

"Well, this guy's just like, 'You guys should loosen up, you know, relax.' So, I'm just like, whatever, and keep in mind, it's hazy as hell and I'm pretty sure there were guys in there that were literally snorting stuff-"

"I did not enjoy being there for that." Francis visibly winced at the memory.

Gilbert shuddered. "There was this lady offering pot and another hanging off of Antonio, who I've just met, and next thing you know, we're in the back alley with Francis, higher than a kite, bloody and bruised because apparently we just got mugged."

"By those two girls!" Francis added.

"Yeah, because you're a total wuss and can't fight. I mean, Antonio's half-decent, but you-" Gilbert shook his head.

"I'm not that bad!"

"Try me. Try. Me."

Francis rolled his eyes and looked away.

Gilbert, now laying on the island, exhaled loudly. Then he snapped his fingers and shot up and off the island. Like a speeding bullet, he raced out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Um..." Matthew looked around.

Francis shook his head. "He does this often." He said, answering what Matthew had been about to ask. "Usually when he has an idea."

"What kind of 'idea'...?"

"Usually something very spontaneous. So, think along the lines of... hm... maybe he's hidden a Nerf gun somewhere? Or we might go swim in the neighbor's pool again. You can never truly know." Francis snickered. "Best part is, I don't drink as much as they do. I'm always sober enough to record things if I like."

O-okay, then...

"Ugh." Lovino wriggled out of Antonio's arms. "I'm going to need something to help me deal with this. Francis!" He took a few steps away from Antonio. "Tequila, now!"

"Okay, okay." Francis sighed and turned, taking something out of the cupboard.

Matthew's eyebrows shot up. "Uh... Lovino?"

Lovino turned toward him with an annoyed expression. "What?"

"H-how old are you, exactly..."

Lovino gave him an almost loathesome look. After a pause, he answered. "Eighteen. I've been breaking the law pretty much my entire life now, so don't try and stop me."

Matthew shied away the tiniest bit, and mentally let out a loud scream.

Okay! Okay. Okay! Just act like you meet hardened criminals and the like every day! Nope, nothing freaky or scary or terrifying about that at all!

...

Holy shit. What did he do?

Matthew shook himself back to reality. Lovino slammed a shotglass down on the counter. Suddenly, loud footsteps boomed above them.

"It seems he found what he was looking for." Francis observed.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Lovino muttered. "Fuck. I hate those commercials. Francis!"

"Yes, yes, I'm on it."

Gilbert stomped down the stairs and jumped the last three steps, barely landing on his feet.

"No." Lovino groaned. "No. Fuck. No."

Antonio, having ignored everything up until this point because he had been sitting on the floor for some strange, unknown reason, rose and looked around.

Matthew looked at Gilbert and then, felt exactly the same as Lovino did.

Gilbert, wearing a yellow onesie that looked something like a chick, carrying two more. "I couldn't find any more than this." He tossed one at Antonio and one at an alarmed Francis. "Suit up."

"God. Why?" Lovino muttered. "I'm faithful... I pray all the time... why disgrace me with this?" He shook his head. "Francis. Before you put that stupid thing on, pour me another shot."

Matthew dug his fingers into Gilbert's hair. At least, he was pretty sure he did, somewhere underneath the hood of his bird onesie. "Gil... don't you dare drop me. Don't you dare!"

"Ow, ow, ow..." Gilbert whined. "Don't yank out my precious hair, please, please..."

Matthew was perched precariously on top of Gilbert's shoulders, who was running down the street because he was racing Antonio, who was in a red and yellow spotted onesie and carrying Lovino on his shoulders, who was madly cursing things, such as:

"'Toni, if I fall I will drop-kick your ass off of the Empire State building!"

"Don't let them catch up to us, dammit! You're so fucking slow!"

"I'm falling, fuck, I'm falling! Bastard! Help! Help!"

Meanwhile, Antonio was simply laughing and running down the sidewalk.

And Francis was way up ahead somewhere. Or maybe he wasn't... maybe he was hiding in a tree recording them being stupid or something.

Probably.

No, no, that's definitely what he was doing. No doubt.

We are definitely waking up everyone.

Please, people living here, don't yell at us, please...

It was dark, and the streetlights were pretty few and far between. They were going into a little dark patch where it was harder to see. At least, for a drunk person. "Gilbert, try not to trip!" Matthew warned lightly.

Gilbert nodded and slowed to a stop. "Spaniard!" He yelled. "We're coming at you at the speed of... Mattie!"

"Huh?" Matthew tilted his head.

"Think of something clever!" Gilbert whispered loudly.

"But we're not even moving!"

Gilbert made a frustrated noise somewhere on the scale between a whine and a growl and started jogging again. "Now we're moving! Just... think of... something!"

"Uh... a falcon?"

"Yeah! A falcon!" Gilbert yelled, louder so Antonio and Lovino could hear them.

"You couldn't come up with that sooner?" Lovino turned his head and yelled. "Seriously?!"

Antonio stopped and turned around.

"Toni, what are you doing?" Lovino curled down in front of Antonio's face. "Hey!"

"Gil!" Matthew leaned down to Gilbert's ear and whispered. "Go! He stopped! It's our chance!"

Gilbert smirked, nodded, and sped up to a dead sprint towards the other two.

Lovino looked at them and started yelling at Antonio. Lovino un-curled himself and yanked on Antonio's hair. "Go! Move! God, you idiot, go!"

Matthew grinned and spread his arms out wide. "Caw! Caw!" He shouted as they passed Lovino and Antonio.

"Dammit... fuck off!" Lovino grumbled behind them.

Gilbert cackled and kept running. Matthew heard footsteps. Antonio must've probably snapped out of his funk, I guess.

As they passed a stop sign, Francis hopped out from behind a tree, wearing a pale, tan onesie with cat ears. Seriously, cat ears? "Surprise, surprise!" Francis held out his phone, a glow illuminating his face. "You're on camera!"

Knew it! I knew he was hiding behind a tree!

Why is it always a tree? I mean, really, why don't you hide behind... I don't know, maybe a stop sign!

...

Then again, I guess you wouldn't really be 'hiding', then.

Matthew's face started to feel hot. God, why do I have to be so camera-shy...

He covered his face with his hands. Gilbert started charging for someone, so Matthew decided it was definitely a better idea to hold onto his shoulders and uncovered his face. Gilbert was charging after Francis, who'd dropped his phone and was running away. Matthew cheered on Gilbert, who was catching up rapidly. Suddenly, he crashed into Francis. "Oof!"

Matthew made a fairly embarrassing squeak of alarm and tightened his grip, bracing himself. All three of them fell, toppling on top of each other. Luckily, Gilbert and Francis had taken most of the impact.

"Mmph." Someone grunted.

"Agh... Mattie, please, you and Francis are like, sandwich-ing me here."

"Oh! Sorry, sorry!" Matthew apologized. He rolled himself off of the pile and lay in the grass on his back. Hey, my glasses aren't cracked! That's good!

Gilbert let out a gorilla-like groan, sort-of like: "Aaaahguhhhaahhh," and rolled off of Francis, landing face-down beside Matthew.

After a few seconds:

Matthew: Hey, gorilla.

Gilbert: Blegh... hi birdie.

Matthew: Where'd that come from?

Gilbert: You were acting like a bird and cawing.

Matthew: Nicely done, creative.

Gilbert: Where'd you ever get 'gorilla'?

Matthew: You made the most monkey-like noise when you rolled off of the pile.

Gilbert: I did.

Gilbert sat up beside Matthew. Matthew looked up at him in curiosity. All of a sudden, he started pounding his chest with his fists. "Aaaaguhyaahguahyaaaaaaaaa!" He yelled.

Matthew laughed. Well, it came out as a cross between a giggle and a laugh, but he'd never admit that. "Gilbert, you're gonna wake everyone up, stop!"

Gilbert stopped for a moment, looked at Matthew, and then went back to pounding his chest and making guttural gorilla-noises.

Matthewsighed, tried to calm down, and broke out into laugh-giggles again, thinking, Okay, why am I laughing? It really isn't that funny, it's just sort of ridiculous.

That's why it's funny, though!

I guess.

Matthew pinched Gilbert's side. "Gil! Stop, we can't stay here, we can't sleep in the neighbor's lawn."

Gilbert stopped gorilla-ing, his chest heaving. After a few long puffs of breath, he said, "Okay, that's fair. Hay, Francis!"

Francis started to say something, but then Antonio, with Lovino hanging off of his back, tumbled down on top of him. "Aaaagh!" Francis cried. "Please... you're crushing me..."

Lovino pushed away Antonio and got up, scowling. "Are you implying that I'm fat? I can't be fat, I most certainly get more exercise than you ever will!"

"Not true! I go on a walk every morning!"

Antonio intervened from his spot on the lawn. "It's true! He always irritates us to go with him when the sun's barely in the sky yet!"

Lovino turned on him. "And of course you wouldn't go on a damn walk, bastard! You're always taking stupid naps!"

"Well, to be fair, you're-"

Lovino slapped Antonio across his cheek. "Shut up, you idiot!"

"Ah, the married life!" Gilbert teased.

Lovino turned to Gilbert. "You're about to be next if you don't shut your damn mouth!"

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Chill, kid. Damn."

Matthew tugged on the back of Gilbert's shirt. "Gil!" He whispered.

Gilbert sighed. "Okay. So..." Gilbert's eyes lit up. "Toni, do we have bikes?"

"Uh... I don't think so-"

"Borrow some from the neighbors." Lovino cut in. "What are we doing?"

Gilbert smirked.

Lovino fell back into the grass. "God dammit. I didn't have enough tequila for this!"

Matthew tilted his head. Gilbert looked back at him and spoke. "You'll see." Then, he flashed his trademark mischievous grin. He stood up, and, still grinning, offered his hand. "Help up?" He asked.

Matthew blushed and took his hand. "Stop..." He mumbled, and pulled himself onto his feet.

Gilbert winked, and then: "Okay! Get out of the grass and let's go!"

Matthew let a small smile spread on his face.

I have a feeling this really isn't that bad.

And Gilbert started running back towards the house, Matthew running alongside him.

Hey! I hope you enjoyed this little thing! It took so, so long...

Oh, and Gilbert is just... yes, Lord!

Alright, now I need ideas. Seriously! I have plans, but I just... want more, I guess. Review!

Also, what would you think if I wrote a side story with Lovi and 'Tonio?

And maybe a prequel...

See, because I'm certain someone must be curious about his 'crimes'. And how 'Toni came into the picture.

Oh, and my idea for a prequel is basically how Francis, 'Toni, and Gil met. On tour. Across Europe.

Is anyone interested...? At all...?

Well, I hope, because I'll probably will end up writing them anyway. I just was wondering, I guess.

(look, the chapter's actually 2,000 words long, that's cool)

And that'll be all!

-Red