My Brother's Best Friend • Prucan

Hungover

When Gilbert woke up Matthew was still sleeping in the same position he had fallen asleep in. Gilbert had woken up throughout the night to make sure Matthew didn't roll onto his back and accidentally kill himself, so he was pretty surprised when he woke up and found that he had risen earlier than his boyfriend.

After a few moments of realizing he had no idea what to do, Gilbert decided to look around Matthew's room. Last night was the first time he had ever been inside the room, but he hadn't exactly had the time to admire it while he was holding back Matthew's hair. As he looked around, he smiled at how much Matthew's room reflected his personality and interests. On his walls were various pictures of him playing hockey as a child, a canadian flag, and some of his own paintings. Strung near the ceiling were fairy lights that gave the room a soft glow in the dawn light. As Gilbert continued looking around he realized he was more content in this moment than he had felt in months. Simply looking at the little trinkets and accents of the room as Matthew lay beside him in the soft pink glow of the sky made Gilbert feel blissful. 

Not wanting to wake Matthew up but also really needing to pee, Gilbert calmly slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom, but when he returned, Matthew had already rolled over and taken up all the space on the bed. Gilbert chuckled at his boyfriend's position and looked over at his alarm clock, which read 7 o'clock. Gilbert groaned at how early it was for a Sunday morning and decided moving Matthew and falling back asleep would be a better idea than simply sitting on his floor and waiting for him to wake up. But as soon as he squeezed his way back into bed, Matthew rolled over and groaned as he opened his eyes to the sight of his boyfriend sneakily trying to get back into bed. At the sight of him, Matthew nearly screamed.

"Why are you in my bed? OH MY GOD DID WE-" Matthew questioned, his eyebrows raised and his voice raspy as he felt the hangover settling in. 

"NO! I'm not a scumbag" Gilbert reassured, eliciting a tired smile from his boyfriend. Gilbert chuckled as he watched Matthew groan and stretch his arms before immediately shoving his head back into the pillow where he had previously been laying. Head stuffed into a pillow, Matthew tried to speak, but all Gilbert could hear was unintelligable and muffled noises. Gilbert chuckled before tapping him on the back. "I didn't quite catch that." 

Matthew groaned and lifted his head from the pillow before swiping his messy curls away from his face and looking up. "I asked if this is what a hangover feels like."

"Well, how do you feel?" Gilbert asked, biting his lip to hide the smile that was forming as he tried not to laugh at his incredibly hungover boyfriend. 

"Like death itself" Matthew shot back, looking up at his boyfriend with a grimace. 

"Sounds like a hangover to me" Gilbert joked, eliciting another groan from Matthew. "What do you remember from last night? You were pretty far gone."

"I don't remember much, but there were certainly highlights. Like I vaguely remember drinking juice and then getting scratched by a cat?" Matthew responded, scrunching his nose in concentration as he tried to piece together the limited amount of memories he had from the night before. 

"I can't believe you drank that much" Gilbert said, laughing as he recollected how drunk Matthew had been by the end of the night. 

"I didn't know the juice was alcoholic!" Matthew shot back, wincing at the sound of his own voice as his head continued to pound. Gilbert laughed and Matthew rubbed his temples, trying as hard as he possibly could to relieve the horrible headache he had woken up with. In an attempt to try to figure out what time of day it was, Matthew peeked out of his blinds, but immediately shut them and screeched as his eyes stung from the sunlight. 

"Hangover tip number one: try to avoid sunlight" Gilbert spoke, shooting Matthew a sympathetic look as he continued wincing from the light. 

"That would've been helpful 10 seconds ago" Matthew shot back sassily. Gilbert softly punched him in the arm and Matthew chuckled before squinting and looking over at his alarm clock and realizing it was time to walk Nova and Penn. Groaning, Matthew lifted the covers off himself and crawled over Gilbert to get off the bed. 

"Where are you going?" Gilbert asked, looking Matthew up and down as the Canadian walked across his room towards the hallway. 

"I have to walk the dogs" Matthew responded, frowning as he realized he would have to face the sunlight again. 

"I can walk them for you!" Gilbert suggested, hopping up off the bed before following Matthew into the hallway.

"No it's fine I can do it myself-"

"Seriously. Matthew Williams I am walking your dogs for you. Get back in bed, shut your eyes, and recover before I drag you back to bed myself" Gilbert demanded, lightly pushing Matthew back into his room as Matthew weakly tried to protest.

"But-"

"No 'buts'! I'm walking your dogs and you're going back to sleep. End of story" Gilbert interrupted before waiting and watching Matthew get back into bed before heading downstairs and finding the dog leashes. As soon as he found them, he clipped them onto the dogs, and was on his way to completing Matthew's chore as Matthew slept off the Jungle Juice. 

-

When Matthew woke up after falling asleep it was 10 o'clock, and Gilbert still wasn't back. Feeling a bit panicked, Matthew shot up out of bed before wincing in pain. Ignoring the head-rush, Matthew ran downstairs and saw the dogs sleeping on their beds, but no Gilbert to be found. Frowing, Matthew looked around and found a little post-it note dangling off Penn's leash.   Matthew lifted the note as close to his face as he possibly could and tried reading it without causing himself pain. It read:

I walked the dogs! Penn dragged me into the river so if there are wet spots on your floor it's probably because of my drenched socks! Sorry! When I came back you were still sleeping and I didn't want to bother you so I went home. I made you some breakfast! (Though I don't expect you to wake up until at least 3pm). It's in the fridge. There's also a little something on the counter. Hope you enjoy!  -Gilbert

Matthew smiled at the note as he imagined Alfred's hyperactive dog dragging Gilbert into the river. That dog had superhuman strength. Matthew probably should have warned him. Feeling his stomach rumble, Matthew walked into the kitchen and looked in the fridge to find a smoothie and then found an aluminum-foil-wrapped loaf of walnut bread. Impressed at his boyfriend's baking skills, Matthew cut a slice for himself and put it on a napkin before taking it over to the breakfast bar. 

Taking a sip of his smoothie, Matthew groaned, but this time in pleasure, at the sweetness of the smoothie and how good it felt to finally eat. Grabbing his phone from where he had left it on the counter the night before, Matthew took a picture of himself taking a sip of the smoothie with his eyes crossed. He looked crazy, but it made him laugh so he sent it to Gilbert along with a text saying "So good! Thank you so much you are the best boyfriend in the existence of boyfriends." 

Taking another sip of his smoothie, Matthew smiled. He really did have the best boyfriend in the existence of boyfriends.