A/N: To the anon who commented on it, watching a dog try to catch flies is indeed an amusing thing to see. My dog does it and that's where I got the idea for it.

Matthew was sitting on the edge of Gilbert's bed, playing with the cute little bird that the boy kept. With Gilbert's usual demeanor, one wouldn't expect him to have such a cute little thing as a pet. If Matthew had been guessing, he would have thought that one of the dogs belonged to him, but as it turned out, they all belonged to his younger brother.

Gilbert was out again, making another attempt at getting Matthew's stuff from his home. Really, Matthew was beginning to think that endeavor was hopeless. Besides, other than his stuffed polar bear, he didn't care much for his things. They were just material possessions, none of which held any sentimental value as no one really remembered him enough to give him something that he would cherish.

Hey... when are you coming back? I'm feeling really lonely. Matthew texted, scooting back on the bed to sit against the wall. He was really getting used to the wall, as Gilbert moved a lot in his sleep and tended to push Matt into it. That's why Matthew slept against the wall. The first night, Gilbert pushed him out of bed, and the poor kid felt horrible about it.

It could be awhile. I'm not dealing with your parents any more.

Then what's going on...? Now Matthew was confused. If Gilbert wasn't dealing with his parents, then who was he dealing with in order to make it so that he wouldn't be back home for awhile...?

Don't worry about it for now.

I can't help but to worry.

Do you want me to see if I can get Francis to come over for you? Then you two can chat up in your cute little 'Francais' while baking cute little cakes.

Matthew blushed at that description. Gilbert sure did use cute quite a bit to describe him. Whatever. He could have fun with Francis while 'baking cute little cakes.' He was certain that Gilbert would like that. Last time Francis and Matthew had been together, they made a ton of food (Matthew found that he had a passion for cooking as well!) and Gilbert ate... well... almost all of it. Yeah, I don't trust myself to be alone right now. Please send him over, if you can.

There was about five minutes while Matthew was just sitting there, fidgeting with the little bird looking up at him nervously before Matthew got another text: He'll be over soon.

What a relief. Now the only thing that Matthew had to do was wait for Francis... Waiting... Matthew hated waiting, especially now. He constantly fretted that the other person was just going to forget about him and never meet up, like they had promised to and he would be let down and lonely. If that happened... well, Matthew was pretty sure that something like that might just cause him to revert and do something completely stupid that would have Gilbert really upset.

Luckily, it didn't have to come to that as Francis came right over, texting him random things on the way so as to keep him company. That was also what let Matthew know when the man got there.

"Hello," he said, as cheerily as he could manage.

"Bonjour. Cheri, I see you still haven't gotten fattened up! I guess that means cooking it is!" he said, being very upbeat so as not to give Matthew a chance to be down. Matthew couldn't help but to smile and follow the Frenchman into Gilbert's kitchen and started looking around to see what ingredients the guy had laying around—it was definitely more than he used to have, as Francis made sure since he started becoming Matthew's sort-of babysitter while Gilbert was doing whatever he was doing.

Of course, Matthew's mind kept wandering back to that, even as he and Francis were working their magic in the kitchen. Maybe... maybe Francis would know what's going on and be willing to let Matthew in on the secret... Maybe Francis would be easy to work it out of, if it came to that.

"Hey, Francis...?" he began in a way that obviously meant that he'd be continuing on in a questioning tone.

"Oui? What is it?" he asked, glancing up from whatever he had going on in the frying pan to look at the golden-haired boy.

"You know what Gilbert's doing that he can't come home, right...?"

"I do, but it's not really something he wants me to discuss."

"Why not? It's got me worried... I'm constantly thinking over why he would be keeping secrets from me, and I worry that maybe he doesn't really like spending time with me, and that's why he sends you to do it." Matthew gave Francis his best kicked puppy dog face, hoping that he looked like someone who absolutely needed to know the information that he was asking after.

"It's not that, I promise!" Francis said quickly, wanting to make sure that Matthew didn't get upset. That was the last thing that he wanted right now, particularly because Gilbert would get after him if he found out that Francis made the boy upset, even if it was over this particular subject.

"How do I know that you're not just covering for him?" Matthew's eyes were teary with real tears. He was just letting out all of his insecurities on Francis, and while he knew it wasn't fair, he couldn't help it. What he had started wasn't going back in. "After all, you were his friend first."

"O-okay, okay, I'll tell you the truth," Francis said quickly, turning off his burner so that the food wouldn't become inedibly overdone. "Just promise me that you won't tell him that I told you, oui?"

"O-oui," Matthew said shakily.

"He is talking to a court because your parents won't give up your stuff. He's going after them for child neglect. Because truthfully, you wouldn't be like this if they hadn't neglected you so much."

"H-he would do that... for me...?" Matthew asked, the tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes.

"Oui," Francis said, pulling him against his chest. "They are not fit to be parents. Particularly because of the fact that they could neglect someone as sweet as you."

"Y-you're just t-trying to flatter me s-so I won't cry," Matthew accused.

"I am doing no such thing. I really and truly believe it. You are such a kind-hearted boy and you let everything get to you far too much."

Matthew smiled just a bit, then wiped his tears and pulled away. "You c-can get back to cooking. I'll be fine."

Francis smiled back and did as he was told, all the while blabbering away in his 'cute little Francais' to Matthew, who was responding back in the likewise manner.

When Gilbert did get home that evening, it was to find the two sitting on the couch and watching some sappy movie in French with empty bowls of ice cream set on the side tables.

Of course, he went and dug into their leftovers, enjoying it thoroughly, and letting them finish the movie before he let Francis leave the house and took Matthew up to bed. It was late at that point anyway, so he figured the kid could use some rest, and he knew that he could before the next day.