#aphprussia

For my favourite person on her birthday. Happy birthday, Maplevogel!  You said you wanted a domestic piece so I hope this counts.  A little bit of sharing and caring and patience.  

Inspired by the song ‘Depth Over Distance’ by Ben Howard.

Depth Over Distance

The hinges on the door squeaked in warning as Canada pushed it open.  The house was stale and dim but he could hear the ‘click, click, click’ of an oscillating fan in the distance.

“Gilbert…?”

He slipped out of his shoes and dropped his suitcase on the worn hardwood.

“Gilbert?  I’m home.  Where are you?”

He squinted into the kitchen as he passed and sighed at the pile of cardboard boxes and garbage. The stove was blackened, the coffee pot was filled with noodles, and the sink was stacked with unwashed dishes.  

He knew what that meant.

Canada squared his shoulders and marched up the staircase with his heart in his throat. Kumajirou was sitting outside their bedroom door with his nose scrunched up in displeasure.  Canada tapped him on the head twice before pushing the door open.

The hinges seemed to screech even louder than before in the silence.

“Gilbert?  Are you in here?”

“No,” the bundle of blankets on their bed replied.  

“Are you sure?” Canada asked, sitting down on the edge of the mattress.  Prussia had drawn the curtains but he could see piles of clothes and more unwashed dishes scattered around the room.

“No,” the blankets repeated.

Canada bit his lip and tried not to laugh.

“No, you’re not here?  Or no, you’re not sure?”

Prussia peeked out from under the covers and blinked at him.

“…  Both?”

Canada chuckled, he could not help himself, and reached out to smooth his tousled hair.

“Bad day, then?”

“Bad week,” Prussia pouted, but he leaned into his hand.  “I missed you.”

Canada hummed in understanding.  He had missed Prussia too.  But he knew that it was more than that.

“Are you going to get up?”

“…  I don’t want to get up today.”

Canada clucked his tongue and nudged Prussia until he scooched over.

“Then move,” Canada said.  “I want in.”

Prussia raised the corner of the blankets and Canada slithered underneath.  He wrapped his arms around Prussia and pressed wet kisses to his shoulder and collarbone.  

Prussia clutched the back of his suit jacket.

His hands were shaking.

“I’m sorry you had a bad week,” Canada mumbled against his skin.  “You should have told me.  I would have come home sooner.”

“I know.  That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Yeah, but I’m youridiot.”

Canada smiled even though he felt like crying.

He left Prussia alone the next day, and the day after, but he opened the curtains on the third day and laughed when Prussia hissed at him.  

He set a mound of pancakes on his lap and pushed the maple syrup into his hands.  

“It’s time to get up.”

“I don’t want to get up.”

“I know.  But you’re going to do it anyway.”

“Why?  What is the point?  Nothing is going to change.”

“Well, I’m going to change the sheets.”

“You’re an ass. That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“Mm,” Canada agreed, and kissed him on the forehead.  “Yeah. But you love me and I asked you nicely so you’re going to do it anyway.”

“You’re trying to guilt me.”

“Absolutely.”

Prussia watched the maple syrup soak into his pancakes.

“I’ll still be depressed, y’know.  I can’t just turn it off.  It doesn’t work that way.”

“I know.  But you’ll be depressed in the kitchen.  Or the den.”  Canada cut into the pancakes with the fork in his hand and raised a piece to his lips.  Prussia snatched it from him with a snort.  He laughed. “A change of scenery might be good for you.”

“You’re mean,” Prussia muttered as he chewed.

“If I was mean, I wouldn’t have brought you pancakes.”

“Where do you think nations go when we die?”

Canada looked up from his novel.  Prussia was sitting cross legged in front of the fireplace.  He was hovering over the flames, a little too close to be comfortable, and the fire cast interesting shadows across his face.

“What do you mean?” Canada asked even though he knew what he meant.  

“When we die. What do you think happens?”

He hummed.  

“I always thought we just sort’a…  Stopped.”

Prussia smiled when he turned to look at him but it was strained.

“That’s not reassuring at all.”

“I’m sorry,” Canada said, and he was.  

“No, it’s okay,” Prussia pressed his hands closer to the fire as if he wanted to feel something, anything, even if it hurt him.  Especially if it hurt him.  “You’re honest.  I like that about you.”

Canada marked his page before slipping out of his armchair.  He crawled across the hardwood and settled next to Prussia in front of the fireplace. He did not touch him, but he could have, and that was enough.

He stared into the flames too.

“…  Are you scared?”

“That I might disappear like Germania?”  Prussia forced his hands even closer.  “No. Yes.  I don’t know.  I don’t know why I haven’t yet.  I just keep… Waking up.  Everyday.  And I don’t know why I’m here.”

Canada chewed on his bottom lip.

“…  I’m glad you are.  Here.  With me.”

Prussia glanced at him.

“…  Me too.”

He almost sounded surprised when he said it.

Canada looked up when Prussia knocked on the doorframe and Gilbird ‘cheep, cheep, cheeped’ from his perch on the faucet.

“Yes?”

He was submerged under a mountain of bubbles in the bathtub but he was still self conscious, somehow, when Prussia opened the door.  His face was mottled and red and he wondered if Prussia had heard him blubbering. He wiped at his eyes.

“I don’t want to disappear.  You know that, right?  I don’t want to leave you.”

Canada huffed but it came out as a hiccup instead.

“I know.  I do, I do, I know.”

“I love you. You’re my home.  This is exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

“What if… What if you don’t get a choice? What if…”  Canada hiccupped, again, and scrubbed furiously at his eyes. This was not about him.  What he wanted.  Or needed.  He was not the one who…  Who…  “What if you…”

“Then I’ll hold on tighter,” Prussia crouched down and grabbed his hand before he hurt himself.  “And I’ll never let go.”

Canada snorted.

“That’s not how it works.”

“Of course it is.”

“It is not.”

“It is.”

He could feel a smile tugging on his lips and he hated Prussia for it.  He loved him for it.  He hated him.  

He loved him.

“You’re an idiot.”

“I’myour idiot,” Prussia agreed.  “Now move.  I want in.”

“You’re still dressed!”

“Psh,” Prussia waved him off.  He pulled himself up and stepped into the bathtub.  His socked feet landed on either side of his legs as he sunk to his knees.  His wet clothes scratched against his bare chest as he wrapped himself around Canada under a blanket of bubbles.  “When has that ever stopped me?’

Canada started laughing, then crying, and then he could not stop.

Prussia threw the curtains open and jumped up and down on the mattress.  Canada moaned and tried to smack him.  Prussia pushed a bottle of maple syrup into his hand instead.

He opened his eyes and blinked at the pile of pancakes in front of him.  

Prussia kissed him on the forehead and grinned.

“It’s my turn to take care of you.”

Day Four:

This is going to be similar to last year in that I am stringing the days together to create a longer love story that takes place over several years.  You have Em to thank for that.  And also for the tattoos.

So I suppose that these are dedicated to her.

(This chapter is suggestive and I am going to tag it as NSFW just to be safe.)

Indelible

“Are you sure…?”

“Yes.”

“We could wait…”

Matthew laughed and dragged Gilbert towards his unmade bed.

“I’m ready.  We’re ready.  I want to do this.”

“What if…  What if it’s bad?”  Gilbert hissed anxiously.  “What if I hurt you?  Or you hurt me?  Or I pull a muscle and start crying and you’re not attracted to me anymore and, and, and…”

He trailed off as Matthew pulled his sweater over his head and raised a challenging eyebrow. Why was he always shirtless when they had important conversations?  That hardly seemed fair.

He gulped.  

“That’s not fair. You’re cheating.”

“I am.  You’re being ridiculous, Gilbert.”

He stared at the tattoo crawling up his arm and felt a swell of pride for his work.  He had done that.  Matthew had lethimdo that.  He had let him pierce his skin with needles for hours upon hours upon hours.

He had let him paint stained glass pieces and birds and flowers on him.  He had asked him to colour the tangled strings red.

He had trustedhim.

“I don’t want to disappoint you,” Gilbert whispered.  Matthew melted a little and cupped his face in both hands.

“You could never disappoint me,” he said, and he sounded so sure that it pulled on his heartstrings.  “Never. We can take it slow.  We can be careful.  But I want to do this.”

“…  Okay,” Gilbert breathed, reaching for his shoulders. “Okay.  We can try.”

And then he pushed Matthew backwards onto the mattress.

“Hey!”  He laughed, bouncing where he landed. Gilbert kneeled between his legs and started blowing raspberries on his stomach.  “Hey, that tickles!”

“You’re the one who wanted to do this.”

Matthew hauled him further up and kissed him.

“I do.  I want this.  I want you.”

Matthew nipped at his lips and slipped his tongue into his mouth and ran his fingers through his hair. Gilbert broke the kiss just long enough to toss his shirt across the bedroom and wiggle out of his jeans.  He touched his chest with shaking hands and ghosted over his nipples.

It was different than when he was tattooing him.  It was even different from when they cuddled or held hands.  They had been close for most of their lives but this was new and exciting and Gilbert wanted more of it.

He reached into his trousers and swallowed the little noise Matthew made when he palmed his erection.

“I can tell,” he chuckled, and Matthew must have forgotten what they were talking about earlier because he just blinked at him.  His eyes were hazy and unfocused.  It was cute.

Gilbert pressed a bit harder and laughed when he bucked.

“You’re such a tease,” Matthew growled impatiently.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.  You want to go slow?  I waited years for you.  I can drag this out all…  Night… Long…”

“Why do I have to do everything around here?”  Matthew shimmied out from under him and kicked off his trousers, socks, and underwear. He pulled a bottle of FINE BOTANICAL LUBRICANT out from under his pillow.  He tossed it to Gilbert.  “I said ‘I like you’ first.  I said ‘I love you’ first.  So hurry up and dosomething about it!”

Gilbert fumbled with the bottle.

“Uhh…  You want me to…?  You?  Me?”

Matthew rolled his eyes but there was a flush spreading down his chest now.

“You can do me tonight.”

“Tonight…”  He repeated faintly as Matthew flipped onto his stomach and raised his ass in the air.  Gilbert stared at the tattoo in the centre of his back and tried not to think too much about what he was doing when he spread his knees a little further.  

“I, uh, I stretched earlier,” Matthew mumbled into his pillow.  “It’ll be easier.  Probably.”

Gilbert coated his fingers and studied the stained glass halo they were adding behind the skull and antlers to tie the design to his arm.

He slipped one finger inside of Matthew and kissed his tattoo.

He slipped another finger inside him and traced the lines with his tongue.  He started rocking his fingers in and out.

He slipped a third finger inside and bit Matthew on the shoulder when he cried out.

“Are you okay?” Gilbert asked, and he was surprised how much deeper his voice sounded.  He continued to bite and lick his shoulder as he worked.  He was going to leave bruises.  “We can stop at any time.  If you want.”

“I’ll kill you if you even think about stopping,” Matthew panted.  His hips kept jerking forward before pushing back and he keened when Gilbert curled his fingers.  

Gilbert grinned against his skin.

“I love you too.”

Day Three:

This is going to be similar to last year in that I am stringing the days together to create a longer love story that takes place over several years.  You have Em to thank for that.  And also for the tattoos.

So I suppose that these are dedicated to her.

Indelible

“Have you decided on the colours yet?”

Matthew was curled forward as Gilbert traced the outlined skull of a deer in the centre of his back.  The birds on his shoulder had looped around to land on the antlers and there was nest with three eggs perched on top of the skull.  It looked almost like a crown.

The antlers were tangled with twine and cornflowers.

Gilbert ran his fingers over the cornflowers and grinned.  Matthew had chosen to tattoo his favourite flower on his back.  It made him feel surprisingly flushed and warm.

He pressed a gentle kiss to his spine.

“The bluebird should be blue,” Matthew offered sagely, waving his hand in lofty circles.  Gilbert pinched his side and twisted until he squirmed.

“Thanks, jackass. I had no idea.”

“The crow should be black,” he continued.

“You’re a genius,” Gilbert wiggled his fingers and Matthew bucked, giggling.  “The greatest mind of our generation.”

“The string should be red.”

Gilbert stopped tickling him and stared at the outline on his back.  The twine wrapped around the antlers and cornflowers.  His cornflowers.

“Uh, I’m not an expert but…  I think that, uhm, red string symbolizes…  Fate.”

“Soulmates,” Matthew nodded.  He turned around to look at Gilbert.

“But I thought the cornflowers…”

“They’re for you.”

“But…”

“The red string is for you too.”

“I…”

“You’re my soulmate, Gilbert.  You were my soulmate before we ever started dating.  You’ve always been my other half.”  He cupped his face between both hands.  “The two years you left me behind to go to college were the hardest years of my life.  I was so happy when you asked me to move in with you.”

Gilbert swallowed. Matthew looked so serious, so focused, and it felt like he was falling into his eyes.

“I, uh, missed you too.  A lot. But…”

“And I was so happy when you asked me out.”

“But…”

He smiled softly and kissed him on the forehead, the nose, the lips.

“I love you.  I have always loved you.  I will always love you.  And, no matter what happens to us, that is part of who I am.  I want it to be part of my tattoo.  Forever.”

Gilbert closed his eyes and tried to remember how to breathe.

“That is ridiculously sappy,” he muttered.  

Matthew kissed him again.

“I know.”

“You’re embarrassing.”

“So are you.”

“You’re sooo embarrassing,” he stressed, but he was just as happy with how things had turned out.  Matthew completed him.  He filled in the gaps he did not know he had and smoothed his rough edges and Gilbert wondered why it had taken them so long to figure it out.

They were meant to be together.

They always had been.

“So you’ll do it, then?”

Gilbert pulled back and reached for the red ink.

“You already knew I would,” he laughed, shaking his head.  “I’m wrapped around your little fingers.”

Matthew grinned.

“Good.”

Day Two:

This is going to be similar to last year in that I am stringing the days together to make a longer love story that takes place over several years.  You have Em to thank for that.  And also for the tattoos.

So I suppose that these are dedicated to her.

Indelible

“How was your exam today?”

Matthew looked wryly over his shoulder at him.

“Let’s just say that this hurts less.”

Gilbert snorted and focused on the tattoo unfolding under his hands.  

That single line from a year ago had become a brilliant array of stained glass pieces that crawled up his arm.  It was hard to see the pattern at first but the pieces started to come together into colourful birds on his upper arm before the stained glass exploded into feathers and more realistic birds as the tattoo looped around to his shoulder blade.

Gilbert was working on a dove at the moment.  

“That good, huh?”

“Worse.”

“Have you decided what you want to major in yet?”

Matthew tensed underneath his hands and Gilbert studied what he could see of his face.  He looked pinched.  Worried.

Gilbert put down the tattoo gun and wiped the fresh ink and blood with a disposable towel.

“Well, I don’t know…”

“It sounds like you have some idea.”

“I just…” Matthew turned a little more now that he had stopped tattooing and frowned at him.  “It’s not a…”

He looked so upset that Gilbert wanted to brush the curls off his forehead, he wanted to soothe the worried wrinkles between his eyebrows with a kiss, but he clamped down on the instinct.  He was not his boyfriend; he was just his friend.  His best friend.  His roommate.

It would be unfair to take advantage of that.

“It’s not a…  I don’t think my parents would…”

“What do you want to do?”  Gilbert prodded gently.

“I want tobeanurse,” he said in a rush, the words slurring together.  “I want to be a nurse.  But I don’t think my parents would approve.”

“Why not?”

“Well, it’s not very masculine, is it?”

“… Does that matter?”

“It does to them.”

Gilbert thought back to a lifetime of his neighbours praising Alfred for his interest in cars, sports, and women while putting Matthew down.  He read too much, he was always so quiet, he never went out…  ‘Gardening is for girls.’  ‘Baking is for girls, Matthew.’  ‘Why can’t you be more like your brother?’

He had not realized how much of it Matthew had internalized even after a year of living together.

“I think you would make a fantastic nurse,” he said decisively.  

“But…”

“Nurses are hardcore, man.  They’re always covered in blood and shit and vomit but they still smile at every little kid who comes in.  They can lift people twice their size.  They play with needles for fun.”  Gilbert grinned and covered his hand with his own.  “It doesn’t matter what your parents think.  It matters what you think.  But I’ll be behind you no matter what you choose to do.”

Matthew started to tear up.  He twisted around and gestured impatiently to his shoulder.

“Keep going so I have an excuse to cry,” he mumbled.

Gilbert picked up the tattoo gun again.

“Alright.”

Matthew slammed the door open and flounced into the tattoo parlour with a letter clasped in his hand.  Gilbert dropped his appointment book in surprise.

“I did it!  I did it!  I got in!”

“Shhh,” he hissed. “Holy shit, Matthew.  What if someone had been in the back?”

“Oh.  Right.”  He did not sound apologetic at all.  “I’m just really, really excited!”

“Sooo…?” Gilbert picked the book up, threw it on the pile, and walked around the counter.  He raised his arms like a returning hero and grinned when Matthew rushed into them.  He spun Gilbert around in his excitement.

“Thank you! Thank you for talking me into it!”

“It’s official then?”

“I’m a nursing student!”

Gilbert felt his chest swell with pride as Matthew giggled and spun him around and around and around.  He knew that his classes would be difficult and that Matthew still needed to tell his parents but it had been weeks since Matthew had sounded so carefree.

“Now we both get to play with needles!”

Matthew laughed and kissed him on both cheeks.

“Bend over.”

“Are you coming on to me?”

“N-n-no,” Gilbert stuttered, blushing.  “You need to lean forward if we’re going to tattoo your back!”

“Oh,” Matthew took off his sweater and leaned so that he was straddling the back of the chair. His broad shoulder curled forward with the movement.  His muscles stretched.  “That’s too bad.”

Gilbert blinked.

“Do…  Did you want me to come on to you?!”

“Yes.  No.  I don’t know!”

Gilbert began washing and shaving the area as an excuse to keep his hands occupied.  He tried to avoid dragging his fingers over his spine or lower.  He swallowed.

But Matthew must have been embarrassed too because there was a flush spreading down the back of his neck and across the top of his shoulders.  

It was distracting.

“I, uhm, I… You?  Do you…?  I didn’t think…”

“You never asked… I didn’t think…”

The flush on his back was creeping further down his spine.  It was warm beneath his hands and Gilbert could feel nervous laughter clawing up his throat.  Shit.  Fuck.  Why did he have to be shirtless for this conversation?  

“I think I’ve always…”

“Always?!”

“Since we were teenagers.”

“But you never…”

“You were younger than me,” Gilbert explained.  “And then I went away to college and you seemed even younger than before.  And then you moved in with me and I didn’t want to take advantage of you.”

“Iwanted you to take advantage of me!”

Gilbert gulped.

“Why don’t we, uh, start smaller.  Like your tattoo.  We can, uhm, go on a date.”

“And see where it goes from there?”

“Just like your tattoo.”

Day One:

This is going to be similar to last year in that I am stringing the days together to make a longer love story that takes place over several years.  You have Em to thank for that.  And also for the tattoos.

So I suppose that these are dedicated to her.

Indelible

“I want a tattoo.”

Gilbert rolled over onto his stomach and stared at Matthew.

“You’re fourteen.”

“So?”  Matthew frowned.  He was drowning in his oversized sweater and there was a pimple on his chin where it jutted out in defiance.  He looked too young to know what he wanted.

“Well, I mean, how do you know what you want?”

“I don’t know what I want yet.  I just want a tattoo.  My cousin has one on his wrist.”

Gilbert hummed and studied the posters on his wall.  The two of them had tacked them up last summer and the words ‘I WANT TO BELIEVE’ were crooked because neither of them could agree on whether it was straight or not.  

“Your cousin is an idiot.”

“You’re the one who kissed him.”

Gilbert jolted upright.

“Yeah, when we were nine years old!”

Matthew chuckled and rubbed his nose on the sleeve of his sweater.

“Francis said you asked to kiss him.  He said you wanted to practice.  He said you’re a terrible kisser!”

“Francis is a dirty liar,” Gilbert growled.  “And he wet the bed until he was seven!”

Matthew burst into shocked giggles.

“He did not!”  He sounded so scandalized that Gilbert forgot what they had been talking about and beckoned Matthew closer.  He cupped his hand against his mouth and leaned in.  Matthew twisted towards him.

“Do you know what else Francis did until he was seven…?”

“I still want a tattoo.” 

Gilbert nudged Matthew into his locker.

“You’re fifteen. And you still don’t know what you want.”

“I don’t have to know what I want yet,” Matthew pouted, pulling the Fundamentals of Calculus textbook out of his locker.  Gilbert recognized the smiling, racially diverse children on the cover even though it had been two years since he took the course.  The children looked uncomfortable and their clothes were at least two decades out of date.

Someone had crossed out the ‘fun’ in fundamentals.  

“Uh, yeah, you kind’a do.  It’s going to be on your skin for, like, ever.  It’s sort of a big deal.”

Matthew smacked him with the textbook and started walking down the corridor with his chin in the air.  Their classes were on opposite sides of the high school but Gilbert often walked him to third and fifth period despite the distance.  

Matthew was his neighbour and the two of them had grown up together so Gilbert tried to keep an eye on him.  At least that was what he told himself.  That he was just keeping an eye on him.

Even if it meant that he was late for his own classes.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It has to mean something to you.”

“Nuh uh,” Matthew waved his hand in animated circles, “you can get something just ‘cause you like it. Or it makes you laugh.  Or you think it’s pretty.  It doesn’t have to have some deep meaning.”

“Then why get one at all?”

“Well, why not?”

He did not have an answer for that.

They stopped and stared at each other when they reached his classroom and Gilbert always felt like he was supposed to do something when he walked Matthew to class but he could not quite put his finger on it.  So they just ended up standing around awkwardly until the teacher ushered Matthew inside.  

“Do you still want a tattoo?” 

Matthew looked up from his novel.

“I’m sixteen.”

“Oh, wow, I hadn’t noticed.”

“You’re an asshole,” Matthew laughed, patting the spot beside him on the grass.  “I thought you were supposed to be a responsible adult now.”

Gilbert grinned and collapsed next to him.

“You’re just jealous because I can vote.”

“That’s definitely it.”

Matthew had grown into his broad shoulders over the past couple of months and his face was clearing up but he still needed a haircut.

Gilbert had missed him.

“How is college treating you?”  Matthew asked, tucking a renegade curl behind his ear.  Gilbert itched to run his fingers through his hair but he squashed the impulse.  He had really missed him.

“Good.  I dropped physics, which pissed off my father, and I started taking arts classes.  Which pissed him off more.  And I’m still taking a couple of musical theory classes.”

“Really?  You’re studying art?”

“I like it,” Gilbert shrugged casually.  “It turns out that I have a good eye for colour.  I have a knack for oils.  And… I’m starting to get really, really good with ink.”

“Ink,” Matthew repeated, turning to stare at him.  They were sitting too close and their noses were almost touching and it was getting hard to breathe.  Gilbert felt like he had been punched in the stomach.  

“Ink,” he nodded. “And I was thinking, I mean, I’ve been looking into tattooing.  There is a tattoo artist across from the college who offered to take me on as an apprentice if I finish at least two years of school.  I’ve been helping her around the shop.”

“I thought…  Well, I always thought you didn’t like tattoos.”

“No, that’s… That’s not it.  I like them.  I do.  I just didn’t understand why you were so sure you wanted a tattoo when you didn’t even know what you wanted.  But I think I get it now.  And I really like the idea of someone wearing something I created, forever, just because they can.”

Matthew suddenly beamed at him.

“I think you would make an excellent tattoo artist.”

“You think?”

“I do.”

“So, uh, if I take the apprenticeship…  Would you… I mean, would you want to be my first…?”

“Your first…?”

“Client!  My first client!”

They were both blushing now.

“I would be honoured.”

“Did you decide what you wanted yet?” 

Gilbert juggled his mobile as he wandered around the tattoo parlour and wiped down the equipment.

“Youknow I haven’t,” Matthew replied over the line. “I’m too busy studying to think about it.”

“That’s a lie,” Gilbert said fondly.  “You’re smarter than anyone I know.  You don’t need to study.”

“I’m smarter than anyone you know because I study!”

“You’re already an honour student.”

“I’m trying to get into college.  And I need a scholarship if I want to do that.  My parents can’t afford to send both of us to college.”

Gilbert hummed.

“I forgot how expensive twins were.”

“I didn’t,” Matthew said dryly.  “And Alfred will probably pick up a football scholarship but I have to do my part too. Tuition, textbooks, living expenses… Residence fees!  It all adds up, y’know.”

“You could just move in with me.”

The words were out of his mouth before Gilbert could fully understand what he was offering.  He almost dropped his mobile in surprise.  

Matthew sucked in a breath on the other end.

“…  You don’t mean that.”

But, the more he thought about it, the more Gilbert realized he meant it.  It just made sense.  He had moved out of residence and into one of the apartments over the tattoo shop a few months ago.  It was old and the floorboards creaked but it was close to the college.

And it was cheaper than residence fees.  

“I do!  It’s close, it’s cheap, it’s nice enough! And, I mean, it might be a little crowded but I think we could manage.  I mean, if you wanted to…  I mean… Shit.  I’m sorry, Matthew.  You probably don’t want to live with me…”

“I do!”  Matthew squeaked.  “I would love…  I mean… I think we could make it work.  I already know all of your bad habits.  And I miss you.  I just…  Are you sure you want…  Me…?”

Gilbert flushed from his toes to the tips of his ears at the insinuation.  He was glad Matthew could not see him.

“Of course I want you!”  He exclaimed before groaning and covering his face in mortification.  “You.  You? To live with me.  In my apartment.  With me.”

Matthew giggled. He sounded just as embarrassed.  

“Okay.  Okay then.  I guess I should get back to studying.  If I want to live with you.  In your apartment.”

“Right. Good.  You do that.”

“Okay.  I’m going to hang up now.”

“That’s, uh, that’s probably a good idea.”

Gilbert stared down at his mobile after he hung up and tried to ignore the fact that his heart was beating faster than the dial tone.

“So you finally figured out what you want, huh?” 

Gilbert organized and reorganized the equipment in front of him.  He had been practicing on himself and pieces of meat for a few months but this was different.  This was the first time he would be working on another person.  

“Kind of,” Matthew bit his bottom lip.

“What, uh, what do you want?”

“A line.”

“A…  What?”

Matthew pushed up the sleeve of his sweater and pointed to the inside of his right forearm.

“A line.  From here to here,” he dragged his finger from the middle of his forearm to just before his elbow in a simple, straight line. Gilbert did not know whether he was supposed to be relieved or insulted.

“I can do more than a line!”

“I know,” Matthew wiggled in his seat, looking uncomfortable.  “I know you can.  I’ve seen your work.  It’s amazing.  You’re going to be amazing.  But…  I don’t know what I’m going to be yet.  I just moved across the country, I just moved in with you…  I start classes in the morning…  You were right.  I don’t really know what I want yet.  I don’t know who I am.”

Gilbert took his hand in both of his own.

He studied his face.

“But…?”

“But I want to see how it turns out,” Matthew rushed to explain, blushing.  His chin jutted out just like it used to when they were children.  “My life.  This tattoo.  This is just the starting point.  We can add to it.  We can make it something beautiful.  But we have to start somewhere.”

Gilbert felt the corners of his mouth twitch.  He wondered if Matthew had noticed that he switched from saying ‘I’ to ‘we’ as he spoke.

“Okay.  A line.  A new start.”

“A new beginning.”

Gilbert leaned over his arm and pressed a soft kiss to where Matthew had pointed.

“A new beginning,” he agreed.

Marshmallow-Manju gave me the prompt ‘magic, snails, and bruised knuckles’ and this is what I came up with.

Making Friends

Matthew flicked the snail back into the cauldron and straightened his pointed hat with his other hand.  He squinted at the grimoire floating in front of his face.  

“Snips, and snails, and puppy dog tails…”  He muttered, turning the page with a flick of his wrist.  “That can’t be right…”

His mentor had told him to go out and make some friends his own age.

He had taken her advice to heart.

“Oh well.”

He stirred the bubbling pink mixture counterclockwise and lowered the heat until it popped and simmered and darkened.  It was almost red now.  He stood on his tiptoes and peered into the cauldron.  

He had never had a friend before.  His parents had brought him to the old witch when he was four years old and the magic started leaking out between his fingertips and toes.  He lived with her in a thatched hut in the forest and the children in the nearest village laughed whenever the two of them passed through with bundles of dried flowers and clinking, clacking bottles.

So he would just have to make a friend from scratch.

The cauldron started to tremble and shake and Matthew stepped back, raising his arms when it flashed a brilliant white, and tripping over the hem of his cloak.  He toppled backwards into shelves of mint and ragweed.  The jars crashed around him.

“Are you okay?”

Matthew gasped and pushed his hat back into place.  

There was a naked boy standing in the cauldron.  He was paler than he should have been, maybe, and his eyes were the same colour as the bubbling mixture but he was grinning at Matthew.  His elbows were scratched and rubbed raw and his knuckles were bruised.

He looked just like all the little boys in the village who fought and climbed trees and rolled around in the grass.

“Yes!” Matthew scrambled up and helped pull the boy out of the cauldron. “I’m sorry!  Are youokay?”

“I think so.”

Matthew draped his cloak over his shoulders.

“Do you have a name?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe.  I feel like I have a name.”

“You can pick!  My name is Matthew.  I didn’t get to pick.”

The boy closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again and cackling.

“Gilbert!”  He said.  “I feel like a ‘Gilbert’!”

“That’s a wonderful name.”

Gilbert put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest in pride.

“Of course it is.”

“Do you…”  Matthew bounced and fidgeted with nervous excitement.  He really liked Gilbert.  He wanted Gilbert to like him too.  “Do you want to be my friend?  I’ve never had a friend before.  You would be the first.”

Gilbert puffed up even more.

“Then I’m going to be your bestest best friend ever.”

One of the best bois, our chinese boi

Ora ora se não são os dois melhores nórdicos (e um bolokkkk) >:3 amo eles demais ❤

Eu que desenhei :3 visitem meu insta pls @some_lost_art

Aww my poor baby >~<

It is my awesome son’s birthday today.