My Brother's Best Friend • Prucan

Candy Canes

(this chapter isnt edited yet so bear with me)

The following Monday after the party was the beginning of the week of holiday festivities that was an annual tradition at Matthew and Gilbert's school. It was the week before Christmas and people were getting increasingly excited as their half-month of vacations came closer and closer. It was a school tradition to pass out "candy cane-grams" to raise money for the local children's hospital to provide gifts and decorations for the kids spending their holidays in the hospital. Basch Zwingli, a senior, had come up with the idea when he was a freshman after walking in on his sister Lily watching Mean Girls and falling in love with the idea. The idea was that students would buy a candy cane for a dollar and write down who they wanted to send it to, and then at the end of the week one of the seniors put on a red nose and deer antlers and hand them all out.  

On Wednesday afternoon, Matthew finally decided to buy some candy canes. The booth was run by Francis and Antonio on Monday and Tuesday and Matthew didn't want to get teased by Francis while he bought candy canes so he had avoided the booth like the plague. But on Wednesday the booth was being run by Basch so he finally decided to send some. After handing Basch five dollars, Matthew picked out 3 multi-colored candy canes and 2 red ones. Using the pencil Basch handed him, Matthew wrote Alfred, Arthur, and Lovino's names on the first three and then put Gilbert's name on the 2 red ones. As Matthew handed the candy canes back to him, Basch thanked him for his donation, and Matthew thanked him back for running the fundraiser. 

After saying goodbye and turning around to head towards the library for his silent study, Matthew saw Gilbert heading towards him with a smirk on his face. "Oooo who are you buying candy canes for?" he asked, eliciting an eye roll from Matthew as he pecked him on the cheek. The peck recieved a few "aww"s from some girls passing in hallway and immediately made Matthew blush. Gilbert laughed at his red face and Matthew composed himself before saying, 

"I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you." 

"Guess I'll have to wait till Friday to find out then" Gilbert replied. 

"Guess so... Anyway, I have to get to study. See you later-"

"Wait! What are you doing Christmas Eve? Because my dad is going to a party and Ludwig is going to Feliciano's... I was um- wondering if you wanted to come over?" Gilbert asked, looking slightly nervous as he awaited a response from Matthew. Matthew didn't know why his boyfriend looked like a deer in headlights, but he assumed it was because Matthew had never been to his house before. In the entire time that they had known eachother and the time they had been dating, Matthew had never even seen Gilbert's house, nevermind gone inside. Matthew had never met his parents, and he had never really remembered a time where Gilbert had mentioned them. Now that he thought about it, it was quite strange. 

"Sounds fun. I'll finally be able to see the elusive Beilschmidt house" Matthew joked.

"Yeah, haha.. Sorry about that. My dad is kind of uptight so I don't really like having people over. He's got both the looks and the OCD of Ludwig" Gilbert admitted, feeling slightly awkward as he fidgeted with the electric guitar keychain on his keys. Matthew furrowed his brows at how anxious he seemed and gave him a little pat on the back in a lazy attempt to make him feel better. 

"Well, I've got to get to study" Matthew uttered, turning to walk away as he left Gilbert by the candy cane stand. 

"Bye Birdie, see you in chem!" Gilbert called out from across the lobby, making Matthew smile as he turned back to say goodbye. 

"See you! I love-" Matthew began before immediately shutting his mouth. Matthew felt his heart stop as he almost said those three weighty words that he hadn't said to anyone before. Feeling his body heat up, Matthew immediately panicked. He couldn't move. He nearly ran away, but as soon as he felt the urge, Gilbert asked,