Author-san, I like that. But people call me Hella-chan. Either or, I'm fine with it!
Chapter 6: Friend.
-Gilbert is now a 'bodyguard' for Oz. Oz is already proving to be quite a difficult person for Gilbert to keep track of, and the young teen couldn't have been happier because of that. But now that he's getting a full tour of the hospital grounds and all it has to offer, what does he think of the patients that go along with it? And what is up with this little girls behaviour?-
Gilbert followed along behind the happily skipping and energetic Oz with a tired yawn and a grumble or two of displeasure.
He really wanted to nap, he hadn't even been given a break yet when the white-haired idiot—the therapist and or counsellor—gave him the news that he was now Oz's bodyguard from this day forward and until further notice.
And right after that, he was told that he had to give Oz a tour of the entire hospital's layout of all the rooms, and the activity center.
Which was located on the other side of the hospital, out back onto the hospital's 'back-yard' so to speak, going through a small path surrounded by small trees and bushes, until finally hitting the pavement of the sidewalk, and passing through the small gate of the activity center, where any patient was allowed to go, once they have nothing left for them to do on their schedules and were allowed to go outside, along-side with an escort or two of course.
'So much walking…And we didn't even go through the entire hospital rooms yet…My legs are aching…' Grumbled Gilbert inside his head, slumping his shoulders forward in defeat as he sighed again in discontent.
Oz abruptly turns around to face Gilbert with a pout easily seen across the features of his face as he points an accusing finger at the tall black-haired man. "That's the fifteenth time you sighed and I'm tired of hearing it! Either you tell me what's wrong and what's bugging you, or I jump on you and force the information out!" Oz states, grinning mischievously from ear to ear.
Gilbert purses his lip and shrugs his shoulders. "You won't be able to get me down; you'll hurt your back more than anything." Gilbert teases, smiling small despite the angry glare he was getting from Oz, that made him want to curl up in a fetal position and beg for forgiveness.
"Oh yeah?" Oz threatens, taking a step forward. "Want me to prove you wrong?" He smiles.
Gilbert braced himself and stood taller. "Bring it." He encourages, even though his mind screamed at him to not let Oz tackle him, because Oz could possibly injure his own small shoulder blade.
Oz let out a battle cry—that could make any warrior jealous—as he dove for Gilbert's ribs in a tackle.
Gilbert easily caught the flash of black in his peripheral vision, and turned his head towards it, even when he knew that he was going to be tackled by Oz, he just couldn't help but turn his attention to the black figure he thought he saw coming from around the corner.
Once Oz landed right into Gilbert's stomach, successfully spearing the taller and older male down to the floor, he groaned in slight discomfort at the dull pain erupting from his right shoulder blade as he lifted himself off of the security guard, who was lain out flat on his back with his golden eyes uncharacteristically wide in either shock or surprise as they stared straight up at the ceiling over-head.
"Hah!" Oz cheered, holding his sore shoulder blade in his hand. "I hurt myself, but it was worth being able to knock you down!" He smiled happily.
Gilbert scowled and lifted himself off of the floor, only managing in being able to pull his upper body off of the floor, being as how Oz was still practically sitting on top of his lower half with his legs out spread at his sides.
"Where does it hurt?" Gilbert grumbles, eyeing the boy in front of him with a flash of concern flitting across his features.
"You're pathetic Sea-weed head!"
Both Gilbert and Oz froze at the voice that came from directly beside them inside the hallway of the hospital and turned their attentions towards the direction of the voice.
And there stood a girl, long dark brown hair going down to her waist in long thin strands as an angry scowl was pressed firm on her young and rounded pale face, with dark purple coloured eyes glaring intently into Gilbert own golden eyes as she cocked her slender little hip to the side and folded her arms over top of her tiny breasts.
Oz blinked at the out-fit she was wearing, it was cute, if he did say so himself. The girl wore a dark purple skirt that was a tad bit too short for a girl her age—whatever her age was—and a long white—and practically see through—blouse with a dark lace tank top underneath.
She scoffed loudly, the noise unattractive to Oz's ears as she glares passively down at the security guard sitting rather awkwardly on the floor. "You let a little boy tackle you! And now look at you! He could've killed you for how pathetic and weak you are!" The girl shouts, scornfully glaring at Gilbert, who was stunned speechless at the sight of her, as she practically bent over towards his face just to glare eye to eye with him.
All the while, during the little girls heated exchange of harsh words, Oz was still sitting atop of the security guard, turned bodyguard, with obvious confusion and suspicion seen in both his emerald coloured eyes. Who exactly was this girl? Gilbert's niece? Or a patient?
Gilbert finally plastered on a hard scowl and a glare as he bit out three words. "Go. Away. Alice."
The little brown haired girl, named Alice apparently, scowled deeper as she put both her hands on her hips. "No way! I have break! And because of that, I demand that you take me outside so I can blow off some steam at once!" She demanded, flipping her long hair over her shoulder before crossing her arms once again over her chest in defiance as she hurriedly tapped her booted foot on the hospital's tiled floors. "C'mon Sea-weed head! Sun's burning and bright!" She stated, impatiently.
Gilbert growls. "Quit calling me sea-weed head! And who do you think you are!? Telling me what to do? You're the patient and I'm the bodyguard!—I mean security—wait no—Gaaah! Never mind!" Gilbert states in exasperation as he scratches at his black bangs and scatters the dark tresses over his face.
Oz smiles brightly at the sight of a pouting Gilbert and pats his head. "There, there, I think I already got the hospital's layout anyways from this morning!" Oz states happily, trying hard to lift up Gilbert's annoyed spirits by patting down his head as he smiled encouragingly at the security guard.
Who tilts his head up to meet Oz's happily smiling expression, a light blush dusting across his cheeks when he meets Oz's bright green eyes.
"Let's go outside!" Oz states, hurriedly getting up from Gilbert's lap as he all but hops up and down in excitement in front of the fallen security guard.
Alice, the little girl with the long dark brown hair, glares at the blonde-haired randomer, and points a suspicious finger at the teen. "Who are you? Why did you tackle MY slave? And what makes you think you're allowed to follow us?" She implores, taking several steps towards the blonde-haired teenager as she angrily glares into the boy's surprised looking green eyes.
Oz put up both his hands in surrender with a small chuckle escaping his lips. 'What's up with this little girl? Is she ALWAYS mad?' He thought.
"I'm Oz Vessalius, I'm a new patient here an—"
"—Oh! You're psychotic just like me eh?" She suddenly states, her once glaring and impassive expression, turns into sadistic pleasure as a wide and chilling smirk took over her expression. "The nurse—Sharon, told me aalllll about it yenno? How an 'innocent' and 'nice' looking teenager got admitted into the hospital! Claiming how he was psychotic and suicidal because daddy didn't like him very much!" She announces with a dark gleam of interest in both her dark purple eyes. "So tell me Oz Vessalius…Do you have scars on both your wrists like me?" She takes a step forward and grasps both Oz's wrists in her tiny hands as a dark chuckle escapes her lips.
Oz visibly flinches back at the casually spoken words—about how he was admitted into the hospital, why he was in there, and the mentioning of his father—and took a cautious step back from the happily smiling little girl holding both his wrists hostage.
"She also told 'Alice', to become friends with him, but I don't think this 'Alice' wants her to. You're too difficult to figure out; you're neither here, nor there, where in the world are you?" She asks, tilting her dark brown head to the side as she let forth loud and cackling laughter that echoes down and throughout the hallways.
Oz shakes his head in denial. "Quit it! I—!" He starts to say as he instantly takes another step backwards from the psychotic looking little girl, trying desperately to either get away, or have the girl knock him out just to get it over with.
Only for Gilbert's hand to land protectively onto his shoulder, as he blocked out Alice with his arm other arm.
Oz blinks in surprise at the touch on his shoulder and looks up towards Gilbert's deeply scowling expression, looking completely angry and offended.
"That's enough Alice."
The tone of Gilbert's deep and raspy voice, made a shiver run down Oz's spine.
"Get a hold of yourself. You don't know who you are." Gilbert states in an empty tone of voice, his eyes hard and his body tense. "Wake up Alice!" He suddenly shouts.
Alice takes a step back and falls to her butt on the floor as though she'd been physically pushed back by the security guard's sudden explosive voice, and blinked confusingly at the floor then to Gilbert. "What? What do you want Sea-weed head?" She suddenly snaps, her eyes fixating on Gilbert's golden eyes with a confused flash, before they hardened to a more determined looking glare. "I wanted to go outside just so you know." She states, sticking out her tongue at the black clad security guard as she continued to sit on the floor.
Gilbert sighs heavily in relief as he calmly places a hand onto Oz's shaking shoulder blade and gave it a reassuring squeeze as he smiles down at Oz's obvious confusion.
Oz looks from the girl, then up to Gilbert, blinking blankly. "What…happened to her?" He quietly whispers, gripping Gilbert's long black sleeve with his left hand. Fear was being momentarily replaced by curiosity.
Gilbert shrugs with a heavy sigh. "I'll explain it later…Come on, I'm taking both you guys outside." He announces, giving Oz's shoulder one last light squeeze before he took his hand away to pet Alice on her head as he continued walking down the hallway.
Alice pulls both her hands to cover over the spot where Gilbert's hand had touch her head, with a light blush dusting along her cheeks, she quickly gets up with a small smile stretching across her face before she skips off to his side.
Oz looked from between the little girl named Alice, to Gilbert's retreating figure in confusion. 'Before the little girl looked ready to unleash all kinds of hell on me, but then she looked decisive and…Intimidating…Her voice even seemed to change, even if it did change only a little bit, but still…' Oz thought, his brow wrinkling in confusion. What exactly happened?
Gilbert turns to look over his shoulder, to finally notice that Oz wasn't follow after them, instead stood further behind them with a look of pure and obvious confusion seen in his bright green eyes. So tilting his head and stopping in the middle of the hallway, Gilbert narrows his eyes down at Oz.
"Is something wrong Oz?" Gilbert asks furrowing his brow in confusion.
Oz finally looks up from the floor to look towards Gilbert, to see concern written on the older man's expression.
He quickly shakes his head and smiles brightly. "Nothing! Just thinking too hard again!" He replies dismissively as he skips over to Gilbert and bumps the older man with his hip. "Let's go then!" He states happily.
"Yeah sea-weed head!" Alice shouts, fist pumping the air over her dark coloured head as she too starts skipping down the hallway with Oz at her side. "Hey! Boy!" She shouts over to Oz inside the hallway.
"My name is Oz, Alice!" Oz replies happily.
"Fine! Hey! Oz! I wanna show you my favourite hiding place when we get outside!" She announces loudly, pointing straight down the hallway in excitement.
Oz grins in delight. "Okay! As long as Gilbert comes with us!"
"He always does!" Alice replies.
Gilbert couldn't help but shake his head with a small smile gracing his lips at the two running teenager's before him. He had to take hurried strides in order to keep up with the energetic duo, but he manages to keep sight of them all throughout and down the many hallways of the hospital until finally they were all outside and in the suns bright and warm rays.
"So…What's the deal with Alice?" Oz casually asks, while biting on a blade of fresh grass that sat between his lips as he lay on the lush green grass that was shaded perfectly by the help of the tall and old looking oak tree that was raised high over his head, tiny bright green leaves hung on many of the trees twisted and contorted branches.
It was a stunning looking tree.
And one that Gilbert seem to have favoured, because he was the one to suggest the idea of sitting in shade—after almost 15 minutes of running around on the hospital grounds and the inpatient dorm building grounds—there were plenty of trees with shade around it that Gilbert could have sat under for a rest, but Gilbert did a full beeline all the way to this old tree, and sat down so casually and with such precise ease, that seemed to have come so naturally that it seemed as if Gilbert has come to this tree for years.
And the idea of that, Oz couldn't help but smile.
He found it oddly cute that Gilbert liked this tree better than the rest of the trees on the hospital's property.
Gilbert finally looks from the low hanging branches over his head, over to Oz with a casual shrug in his shoulders. "Nothing much to say, except that she practically lived her for almost three years now."
Oz's eyes widen in shock as he rolls over and onto his stomach, so his face was turned directly towards Gilbert. "Wow…For that long? Why?" He asks quietly, turning to look over to Alice, who was sitting inside a bed of flowers, staring up at the sky in an almost dream-like manner with her eyes open widely and wistfully as she glides both her hands over the heads of the flowers surrounding all around her.
"I don't think…I should say, Oz." Gilbert admits, nervously wringing his hands together.
Oz quirks an eyebrow at Gilbert and tilts his head. "Why not?"
"Because…That's important information. Classified you can say. Only patients, their counsellors and their therapists, are allowed to know that kind of information. And it stays between them entirely." Gilbert explains.
Oz wrinkles his nose in displeasure. "But you were ready to share information with me just a little while ago, besides, how did you find out?" He smirked.
"Break." Gilbert deadpanned seriously. "He was worried about her when she first showed up here, and assigned me to be her bodyguard for a full year until we finally got her diagnostics from the other Pandora specialist, and found out the reason for her unpredictable behaviour and attitude." He replies, staring from the happily smiling Alice, then down to the curious looking Oz beside him. "She might be unpredictable, and a little bit stupid." He chuckles a bit at the sentence. "But she's a good person and when she finally decides to share her story with you, you'll understand her a lot more than you do now." Gilbert finishes with a smile. "So have patience when it comes to Alice, she's special." He faintly smiles, an embarrassed blush dusting across his cheeks as he quickly clears his throat and turns his head away. He really didn't mean to voice what his heart was telling him.
Oz couldn't help it, but he chuckles with a small but very honest looking smile faintly tracing across his face. "You sound like her brother instead of her used-to-be bodyguard…" He trails off.
Gilbert shakes his head hurriedly. "Me and her? Hah! It's a platonic relationship, she treats me like her slave instead of her friend, but it's understandable." He mutters. He looks back to Oz and smiles. "So be warned, she'll probably treat you the same too." He announces, poking a finger over at Oz's face.
Oz smiles at this. "Most likely, but I don't mind. She seems like a good person either way."
They both look back to Alice, to see her staring curiously at a grasshopper jumping from leaf to leaf from a flower beside her; they both quietly chuckle a bit at the sight.
Oz rolls over once again and practically sprawls across Gilbert's legs to stare up into the oak's branches hanging low over-head and stares wistfully at the suns beams peeking in through the leaves, he found it quite interesting that a tree that looks as old as this one above him, could produce so many leaves.
Gilbert stares down at the blonde-haired teenager, catching the wistful gleam in the teens emerald coloured eyes and the faint but noticeable small smile on his lips, the teenagers rounded face was touched with little traces of girlish qualities to his features, like the smooth pale skin, untouched with blemishes and imperfections, his bright and soft looking blonde hair, the straight small nose, and the natural pucker of his lips.
Yes, the teen sprawled across his long black clad legs, looked so peaceful and alarming beautiful, for a boy in his teens that is, that Gilbert couldn't imagine Oz getting old—well, as old he was—but if Gilbert ever gets to see Oz in his prime, that is including his beautiful features, Gilbert suspected that when the teenager grew up, he would most likely look like a male model, in comparison to himself.
"Gil?"
Gilbert blinks out of his silly thoughts, and stares with more concentration at the boy on top of his legs, to see that Oz was staring curiously into his eyes. "Hmm?" He hums, but then clears his throat and gestures for Oz to carry on. "I mean, what is it?" He asks.
Oz smiles and rolls over once again, this time his stomach is laying down on top of Gilbert's solid legs and cups his chin in both his palms. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Gilbert's face heats up instantly at the mention of his staring and he looks away quickly. "Wh-what d-do you mean?" He quickly whispers out, trying hard to not look Oz in the eye.
"Like…You're staring at something so unbelievable-ly beautiful. Like a waterfall or the moon." Oz muses, his smile fading to a faint quirk in his lips. "Am I beautiful Gilbert?" He suddenly asks.
Gilbert's blush turns up ten-fold and he hides his face with the crook of his arm. "Wh-why would you ask another man that?" He asks, desperately trying to change the subject now that the attention was on him.
Oz shrugs his shoulders. "Because people often stare at me like I am, I don't see anything perfect or beautiful about me, either than the fact that in the right lighting, I can look like my older sister Ada." He chuckles.
Gilbert looks from the scenery of the hospital grounds, then back to Oz curiously. "You never told me you had an older sister." He replies, thankful that the conversation got turned around.
Oz nods with a small smile. "Yeah I do…She's twenty, kinda looks like me, but a lot more beautiful, and longer hair, but the same colour as mine." He explains, touching his bangs lightly with one hand, before slipping it to his lips to trace delicate lines across the bottom of his lip with his finger. "She has rounder lips than mine, but either than that, we almost look a lot alike." He smiles.
Gilbert shakes his head, forcing his eyes to focus on anything but the faint lip tracing that Oz was now doing. "How old are you anyways?" He asks casually, leaning against the wood of the oak behind him. Gilbert soon scolds himself for acting so out of character, and he felt a little on edge, because he now felt completely interested in what Oz had to say.
Oz suddenly smiles brightly and turns his head over to Gilbert. "I'm 16-years-old. Turning 17 in December 26th, long time huh?" He muses. "I'm…Shorter…" He grumbles. "Than the rest of the 16-year-olds I know. But I'm still growing! So there's hope for me!" He suddenly declares, fist raised high in the air in determination.
Gilbert snorts. "You barely even reach my chest, maybe you stopped growing." He smirks.
Oz pouts. "Are you teasing me? I'll have you know that I grew 2 inches last month!" He argues.
Gilbert only smirks. "Only 2? I was a lot taller than you when I was 16 then."
"Ah shaddap! I'll be taller than you! Just you see!" Oz defends, pinching Gilbert in the leg.
Gilbert flinches with a small yelp as he quickly retracts his legs out from under Oz with a hard glare. "Buzz off." He snaps.
Oz smirks and reaches forward with both his hands out-stretched in Gil's direction. "I'm gonna tickle the life out of you." He threatens, mischievous smile slipping back into place.
Gilbert rolls his eyes passionately. "You don't sound very intimidating when you threaten me with 'tickles'." Gilbert retorts sardonically, smirking small despite himself.
Oz smirks, "How old are you, Gil?" He asks suddenly, rolling back around so now he sat directly beside Gilbert at the tree.
Gilbert ignored the fact that his shoulder now felt a tad bit warmer now that Oz was sitting next to him at the tree, practically touching shoulders with the boy who didn't take any notice that they were basically hip to hip under the shade of the tree.
Gilbert clears his throat awkwardly and mutters something inaudible for the both of them to understand.
Oz wrinkles his brow. "Twei-ah-free-fo? What?" Oz repeats, laughing as he clutches an arm over his stomach.
Gilbert blushes furiously and whips his head in a different direction. "I'm…twenty…" he finally mumbles out.
Oz blinks, his eyes going wide as saucers as he leans his face closer to the blushing security guard beside him. "Only?" He practically gasps in surprise.
Gilbert narrows his eyes at him, blush still evident on his cheeks. "What do you mean only?" He growls in suspicion. "I would give anything to be that age again! But…I'm…Actually…Twenty…F-Four…?" He trails off uneasily; he really didn't like talking about himself, especially in the presence of such a person like Oz.
The boy was just one great big mystery to him! And completely unpredictable! He didn't know how Oz would react, whether the boy would tease him right on the spot for acting like a blushing blundering idiot for a 24-year-old, or whether the boy would do something…lewd…again because of his age…He just couldn't predict Oz's reactions!
'Or maybe he'll start treating me more like an adult and take me seriously now?' Gilbert thought with hope. 'Either that or I'm just fooling myself and wishing for something I'll never have.' He sighed heavily at this thought.
Oz's mouth goes agape in wonder as he stares intently into Gilbert's scowling/pouting expression, for a man—a 24-year-old man at that!—he could act so much like a teenager, and he didn't look at all like a 24-year-old should! Gilbert just had such boy-ish qualities and an air about him that Oz believed that he actually was 20-years-old instead of his original age…For the fact that Gilbert scowls more often than smiles, for the fact that Gilbert seemed content with just himself, how awkward he carries himself whenever Oz so much as did something just a little bit, well, indecent would be an appropriate word, and because Gilbert was just so much of a push over! Oz was able to intimidate—of course he was only playing around at the time—Gilbert without so much as lifting a finger, he was able to make the security guard go along with his antics, and he was able to make Gilbert do pretty much anything that Oz wanted him to do on a whim.
There were not only those things that were stuck in Oz's head, but Gilbert also looked so youthful! There was not a trace of age, or wrinkles, on his face. Gilbert just looked so…So…What was the word…? Without making Gilbert sound feminine?
"Adorable?"
Gilbert sputters and stares at Oz in surprise.
'No…That wasn't the word…' Oz thought, watching in amusement as Gilbert's facial expressions were changing rapidly in front of his eyes.
First Gilbert's expression was pure surprise, then utter embarrassment, to a small angry scowl, to confusion, then back to embarrassment.
"That wasn't the word I was trying to describe you." Oz defends swiftly. "I…Was trying NOT to make you sound like a woman."
"Gee." Gilbert replies. "That makes me feel a lot better, and here I thought you were gonna mock me for being an old man, but better yet, you made me sound like a woman." Gilbert retorts, in the most sarcastic tone Oz ever heard him use.
So sarcastic, and so ass-hole sounding, that Oz couldn't help but chuckle lightly and smile happily at Gilbert's still blushing face. "You're funny." Oz comments, still chuckling into his hand while the other arm was wrapped around his stomach for support of some kind, as he all but guffaws into the air.
Gilbert merely scowls and folds his arms over his stomach. "Whatever, you get your kicks out of anything idiotic I do and say."
"Oh don't pout, as cute as it looks, I don't think of you as an idiot."
"Quit calling me cute and adorable!" Gilbert hisses.
Oz rolls his eyes. "Look Gilbert, I think of you as a person I can easily get along with, which is saying something because I don't have many friends, and to me, I think of you as a friend, even if we only just met today. I tease you, because you're my friend, I bug the crap outta you, because it pleases me to see you struggling to contain that stoic mask you always have on." At this, Oz grins mischievously and pokes Gilbert's ribs.
Making the older latter flinch and squirm.
"To me, Gilbert Nightray is a good friend. And I can't wait to get to know you better during my stay here. And I…Also…Like to…Thank you, for being my friend…" Oz trails off, looking at anything but Gilbert as he slowly gets up from the spot under the tree.
"Oz, wait—" Gilbert starts to say, hand reaching desperately for the boy's sleeve, until a bright grin was thrown at him from over Oz's small shoulder.
"—Gilbert is a great friend, even if I only just met him today. I hope we can continue to get along during my stay here…What do you say? Bodyguard?" Oz states, smiling down at the bewildered looking Gilbert, lacing his hands behind his back, he rocks back and forth on the heels of his shoes.
Gilbert blinks at the soft and happy expression on Oz's face, and couldn't help but offer a small smile back in response. "I say…That I would like to be your friend," he announces with a small shy smile. "A-and I hope…I'm the perfect bodyguard…" Gilbert states quietly as he quickly looks down to hide his blush.
'Get a-hold of yourself Nightray! He's 16-years-old! You're much older than him!' Gilbert screams inside his head, wanting desperately to get his composure back and school his expression. But with the blonde-haired teenager looking so intently at him with a bright smile, he just couldn't school his embarrassed expression.
Oz merely chuckles and pats Gilbert on his dark coloured head, the soft dark brown waves of Gilbert's unruly hair, felt oddly nice when he smoothed it back and curled the strands of wavy hair between his fingers.
'He's 24-years-old…Get that in your head Oz. From now on, treat him merely as a friend. Nothing more.' Oz notes inside his head, suddenly pulling his hand back from the mop of hair when he noticed that Gil's eyes were closed in what looked like contentment and comfortable pleasure.
He suddenly slaps Gilbert behind the back—making sure he slapped extra hard just in case—and pulled Gilbert up by the sleeve of his long black trench coat.
"Now, let's go back inside! You still gotta show me around yes?" Oz states suddenly enthusiastic as he all but dragged Gilbert out of the spot from the tree and dragged him all the way to Alice, who was still inside the little enclosure of flower beds.
"Did you have to slap me?" Gilbert states grumpily.
Oz merely laughs and continues to drag the tall security guard by the arm, before he quickly let's go with a displeased scowl, and started jogging up ahead of him.
'No more contact! He'll assume something…!' Oz notes inside his head, a light and very faint blush dances across his face. 'Why did my bodyguard have to be him? Why does Gilbert have to be older than me? Why does Gilbert have to be…So damn good looking? Why me?'
'Why me? The boy is clearly younger than I am! And yet he's more…Better, than I'll ever be! Why does he have more charisma and…A certain…Attraction about him that I don'thave? Why does he have to be so young? I'm such a pervert! Why me?' Thought the dark haired security guard as he hid his furious blush with his arm, averting his eyes from the happily smiling Oz.
Thanks so much for the support and amazing reviews! Hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed typing it.