Liars And Monsters

Chapter One: Stew

"Mathias?"

The Swede walked out onto the front porch, a bowl of hot stew in his hands. He stood next to his Danish friend, looking down at him.

Said friend, who had been acting strange all day, looked up the taller blonde. "Yeah?" Came his simple reply.

He even sounded different too.

Though, he couldn't tell why.

"I brought your dinner, since you didn't come inside."

The Swede handed him the bowl filled with the stew their friend Tino made. The Dane took a single look at the bowl before setting it down next to him on the steps.

Not that it wasn't good, seeing as Tino was an amazing chef, he just wasn't hungry at the moment.

He'd eat it later on.

Mathias turned his gaze back to the ground in front of him. "Thanks."

Berwald frowned a little. Even though he and Mathias fought alot, he was still his oldest friend, and it bothered him that he couldn't figure out what was wrong. But-

"You know... it's wierd."

He paused a moment, his frown deepening. "What is?"

"How much you can loose all at once." Mathias had an almost blank expression on his face, his focus completely on the ground in front of him.

He hesitated, not really sure what to say other than, "What do you mean?"

There was a long pause before he finally spoke again.

"Lukas left me."

Berwald felt his stomach flip, for several reasons, shock being one of them. "What?! When?!"

"Last night."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Berwald was a little angry now. How could Mathias not tell anyone about something like that!

Mathias's reply was simple. "Didn't want to be annoying."

Berwald's gaze hardened, clenching and unclenching his fists. Had Lukas told him that?

"Mathias, you're not annoying."

The Dane laughed at that. No, not his normal, happy laugh, but a sad, humorless one. " 's not what Lukas said."

The Swede felt his chest tighten, the anger rising, but he kept himself composed. "Well, he's wrong. You're not annoying Mathias." He said, his voice becoming a little louder.

"You don't have to lie Ber." The blonde said in a quiet, flat voice.

"I'm not!"

"Yes. You are." He said with that same tone of voice. It was so unnatural for him. "Berwald-" He started, about to say something else.

"Mathias," The Swede interrupted, "I promise you, I'm not lying. Lukas was wrong. You're not annoying."

There was a long pause before the other sighed. "Berwald, I know what you're trying to do. You're just saying those things to make me feel better. I know I'm annoying. Lukas was right. You don't have to try to do things like that, okay?"

But before the other could respond, the Dane was already inside and heading for his room.

Berwald sighed, running a hand through his hair. He stood, about to go inside and check to see if Tino had heard anything about it before he had until he realized something.

He hadn't seen Mathias eat all day.

And he didn't even touch the stew.