The First One
It had been a week and a day since Gilbert had spontaneously taken the strange blonde hobo home, and he actually wasn't killed during the night. Matthew had been a perfect little house guest; he made his bed on the couch and cleaned it up each morning, did a fair share of chores, kept to his own while still being polite. He answered every question asked, stayed in, even when everyone left for work or any other activities, and, on occasion, offered to prepare dinner, and though Gilbert and Feliciano trusted him, Ludwig declined, not trusting the blonde. Though he seemed nice, the blonde never washed his clothes, saying something along the lines of "your soap will harm the material" or another excuse, and Gilbert occasionally saw him pull something out of a pocket that one usually thought could not fit into the pocket. Various screwdrivers, hammers, duct tape, toys of every kind, cookies and candy canes, and, on one occasion, a thermos full of cocoa could be found in the pockets! Matthew also never swore, Gilbert noticed. Instead of an expletive, the blonde always said "maple" or "hockey" or something Christmas related, it blew the albino's mind. And another thing, no matter what shower products Gilbert gave him, the Canadian always smelled like cinnamon and… just Christmas all together. It really unnerved the albino man.
Gilbert was a man that grew up in a very religious background, though his parents never celebrated Christmas and had taught both Gilbert and Ludwig from a young age that a fat, jolly man that went around giving gifts to children did not exist. They had also told Gilbert that even if such a man did exist, all he would ever get was coal. The albino was what you would call a "trouble-maker" as a child and he rarely did what society said a good, nice little child should do. He hit, he screamed, he was extremely narcissistic, he never listened to his parents, he talked back to his teachers… Whatever you thought a bad child would do, Gilbert did and then some. When he grew older, he managed to start his own business with his brother and learn stock trade, and the two brothers made a fortune as business men. Their own business was booming, having just merged with a smaller cooperation to help them form a bigger "empire", and their stock shares were doing well. The best part? Gilbert didn't have to go to an office. People often called his a Scrooge, as he was never inclined to donate to charity around this time of year, nor did he like giving any workers the holidays off, and never in a million years would he ever think of taking home a man that practically screamed Christmas without even trying.
Sunday it was when Gilbert finally got the chance to taste Matthew's cooking. For once, the albino had awoken before his brother, who usually woke at five o'clock sharp. Though, apparently, he wasn't the first up; Matthew was. The albino padded to the kitchen, yawning, somewhat ready to make breakfast for everyone; some awesome wurst and eggs. What he wasn't ready for was seeing the house guest in there, humming a song under his breath that sounded like "Jingle Bells" making pancakes, and lots of them. Gilbert spotted eight plates out, seven of them piled eight pancakes high and the last one currently had four, he saw that while Matthew was making four more pancakes, he was also making scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and hot chocolate. He watched as the blonde expertly flipped the pancakes, turn the burner off for the eggs, deftly open a cabinet and produce a bowl, only to put the cooked egg in there. The song changed to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" as Matthew stacked the last four pancakes, put the hash browns in another serving bowl, and set the bacon on a plate. He laid out all nine plates and two bowls on the little kitchen table as he dashed over to the refrigerator, pulling out butter and whip cream, and to another cabinet to pull out powdered sugar and maple syrup Gilbert didn't even know was there and set those out, two. He turned the burner off the hot chocolate and expertly poured it into four mugs he had set out, and then he pulled out four more plates and a set of forks.
The blonde turned suddenly and almost bumped in Gilbert before realizing he was not alone in the kitchen. The albino man watched as Matthew backed up, blushing as his fingers fumbled at the edge of his sweatshirt. "S-sorry, Gilbert," he apologized, his eyes fixated on the floor. "I made breakfast, so, um, help yourself. I'll go get Ludwig and Feliciano up." He started to walk past him but then stopped and turned. "Oh! There are four types of pancakes: buttermilk, cinnamon and brown sugar, chocolate chips and peppermint, and everything in the last set!" The blonde smiled and rushed out of the kitchen, giving the groggy Gilbert barely enough time to nod, as he carefully avoiding the albino man.
That was another thing Gilbert had noticed throughout the week. Matthew always tried to keep his space from the albino man even though he was perfectly fine with Feliciano hanging off him or being within a somewhat close proximity with Ludwig, but when it came to the business man, the blonde inched away and didn't come close at all! It bothered Gilbert; he was awesome and why wouldn't Matthew want to be close to such an awesome person? He could tell that the Canadian must at least like him; he never blushed the way he did around Gilbert compared to anyone else in the apartment. The albino had to admit, he wanted Matthew to like him; the blonde was too cute for his own good, it reminded him of a frittering bird. To be honest, Gilbert had the tiniest, smallest, pea size crush on Matthew. Just a little one.
Shrugging, Gilbert walked over and served himself eggs and bacon before staring at the eight stacks of pancakes. He served himself one of every type before applying butter and hesitantly added the syrup; he grabbed one of the mugs and headed over to the couch, choosing to eat breakfast there. The albino wondered at the back of his head why Matthew had made so much but shrugged it off in favor of taking a bite of pancake. It was… Gilbert dropped his fork, eyes widening just as Matthew, Ludwig, and Feli entered, making their way to the kitchen.
Ludwig immediately rushed over, carefully inspecting his brother and picking the fork up. "Gilbert! Are you poisoned? I knew we shouldn't have trusted Matthew." The large blonde sent a glare towards the house guest. Matthew flinched back, not sure why Gilbert had dropped his fork, either. Gilbert slowly turned his head towards the quiet blonde, just staring at him before standing and going over to clasp his shoulder. Ludwig stood on the defensive, worried for his brother.
"Matthew," Gilbert breathed, his face neutral. "What do you put in your pancakes?! They're heaven! Almost as awesome as me! Oh, mein Gott…" The albino unclasped Matthew's shoulders suddenly and returned to the plate he had served, forgoing a fork and scarfing down the heavenly pancakes. Gilbert paused when he heard Matthew chuckle—which he found adorable—but continued eating when he heard the three people enter the kitchen.
Soon, he was joined by Feliciano, who was currently praising Matthew on his cooking skills with a plate that looked similar to Gilbert's, Ludwig who just had two pancakes and a cup of cocoa, and Matthew who had—holy shit; he had a stack of eight pancakes, eggs, bacon, cocoa, and a heavy amount of maple syrup on top. The albino watched as the cute blonde dug in, eating happily and at twice the speed of Gilbert. Breakfast was a quiet affair, everyone marveling at Matthew's godly pancakes. When everyone was finished, Matthew collected everyone's plates and mugs and, with a quiet "Hoped you liked the food", he swept off to the kitchen. After a few seconds, there was the sound of water running.
Gilbert stood, his belly full with great satisfaction and followed Matthew to the kitchen, leaning lazily on a counter. He stared at the odd Canadian for a few seconds, eyes wandering downwards, unabashedly staring at the blonde's ass. He glanced up, noticing that Matthew was blushing, obviously aware of the eyes on him. Before he could think twice about it, Gilbert suggested, "Let the awesome me take you out today, Birdie." The albino blinked when the words were out but quickly smirked like he meant to ask that.
To Gilbert's great pleasure, Matthew blushed two shades darker, pausing in his dish washing. "U-uh, okay, sure. When?" The blonde kept his eyes on the dish in his hand, flicking his eyes up to glance at Gilbert but it was only a fraction of a second that the albino thought he almost imagined it. The business man was elated, though he would never admit it, that Matthew had agreed to go out with him today.
Gilbert's smirk broadened. "After I get dressed, we can go get lunch. Awesome?" Matthew nodded, and continued washing the dishes as the albino walked to his room, wasting no time in getting dressed. That gave him an hour and a half until noon, so he spent the hour emailing whoever he needed to email for boring business details and then checked his stocks.
Fifteen minutes before noon, he exited his room, finding Matthew and Feliciano having a much one-sided conversation on the Italian's part about pasta. The blonde's expression screamed "HELP ME", so Gilbert lazily made his way over, smirking. "Hey, Feli," he cut in. "The awesome me has to take Birdie here somewhere." The albino grabbed Matthew's wrist, dragging him off the couch. "C'mon, Matt."
The blonde turned to give the Italian a polite "Good-bye", and followed the albino out the door. Once outside, the Canadian quietly said, "Thanks, Gilbert." and walked towards the elevator. "S-so, where are we going," Matthew asked, trying to make polite conversation, and, much to Gilbert's disappointment, kept his distance from the albino. They stepped into the elevator and Gilbert said nothing the entire way down, which he saw made the blonde uncomfortable as Matthew pulled out a toy and did that odd disassemble/reassemble thing he did when he was nervous.
They exited the building and Gilbert picked a random direction to go off in with Matthew trailing along. Finally, he answered, "I honestly don't know where, what about a hot dog? Sound awesome?" The albino turned to look for confirmation from his … friend? What was Matthew to him? What did Matthew see him as? Gilbert kept his poker face as he watched the Canadian man mull over the suggestion as they walked aimlessly.
After passing a few buildings, Matthew spoke up. "That sounds nice," he said, smiling as he glanced about. Gilbert smirked as he kept a look out for an infamous New York hot dog stand. They talked of random topics that Gilbert brought up, ranging from favored sports—hockey for Matthew, football (the European kind) for Gilbert—to animals like birds and polar bears, and at one point they had discussed which was better—pancakes or wurst, which the albino had made sound very lewd and disturbing.
A couple of blocks later, they came across a stand in front of the park Gilbert had found Matthew in, and they bought hot dogs with everything on it. The pair found themselves an empty bench and Gilbert was pleased to find that the blonde no longer shied away, but instead sat closer for warmth as they ate in content silence, watching passer-by go about their day while they could hear children playing out in the snow behind them. It was warmer today than earlier in the week, though it was still very cold with slushy, dirty snow covering the park, but it didn't deter the children who laughed and played happily while mothers yelled for them to be safe.
Gilbert went to go throw away their trash and when he returned he saw Matthew on the bench, yes, but there was a little girl seated on his lap, chatting away happily as the blonde smiled kindly and patted her shoulder. What was even stranger was that there was a line of children—boys and girls of varying ages—waiting impatiently for the girl to finish. The Canadian caught sight of the albino watching and smiled sheepishly, shrugging as the little girl jumped off and thanked him and Matthew nodded to her as a boy a few years older took her place. Gilbert walked over, ignoring the kids that were complaining about him "cutting" and took a seat beside Matthew.
"D-man, Birdie," he said, censoring his mouth around the boy on the blonde's lap, talking of boats and trains. "I leave for two seconds and you've already attracted kids with your pedo skills." The blonde sent a glare his way, but smiled at the boy before getting him replaced with another kid; the line seemed endless.
That was when Gilbert heard the reason all these kids had gathered around his… date? What was he? The albino would have to clear that up later. What he heard was the little boy, one of about twelve with massive eyebrows and sea-blue eyes, exclaim, "Wow, Santa! Nice to meet you I'm Peter! And I…" Gilbert stopped listening after that, getting hung up about who the children thought Matthew was; even Feliciano had called the blonde Santa Claus upon first meeting him, it left Gilbert stumped as to why.
He shook his head to clear his thought. Later, he thought, later.
They had children flocked around them for another thirty minutes before their parents had to drag them away to get them out of the snow, much to Gilbert's relief. After Matthew had listened to their requests, he got pelted with questions about "life in the toy shop" or something like that. It made Gilbert's head spin at the amount of questions and answers given.
But more than anything, it deepened the mystery of Matthew Williams, the cute blonde he picked up on whim a week ago.
A/N: Matthew is referred to as Canadian this chapter because it is Gilbert's view of it. :) I would destroy the world for a Klondike bar. Aaaaaaand, somewhere up in space Harry Staford is drilling holes into an asteroid named Dottie. :D
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