Seasonal Feathers

Chapter 11

The sun was so loud.

Matthew had never realized it before now, but god... the sun was so loud. It beat down on his eyelids and amplified the drum that played a constant reverberating beat in his head. Upon opening his eyes, the only thing he could see was this great, blazing ball of fire that could only be the moon's evil counterpart.

He rolled over in bed with a groan, clamping his eyelids back together. In the blond's congested mind, it occurred to him that there must be a reason that he felt this way. It also flitted across his subconscious that his usual room didn't face the window, though this was hardly an issue. He was used to waking up in different cabins at random.

All of a sudden, memories hit Matthew like a bus. His eyes shot open and he surged upward into a sitting position. Not quite sensing the urgency that his mind was experiencing, however, his body saw this as an act of war. It promptly rebelled, and before the blond could make good on his intention to fly straight through the glass window, he found himself curled in fetal position on the bed, trying desperately to keep his stomach in its proper place within his abdomen.

He must have made more noise during this episode than he thought, because Matthew vaguely registered the sound of a door crashing open. He very un-vaguely registered an ear-splitting shout of "GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE!"

The blond groaned and covered his ears. "Don't yeeellllllll." he whined, glaring up at a familiar, pale blob floating in his bleary line of sight. His vision sharpened enough to make out a sympathetic (and slightly amused) smile.

"I didn't yell," Gilbert stated, "but I should've whispered, sorry. That was stupid. Hangovers really suck, don't they?"

Matthew nodded into his pillow. He was in too much physical pain to be too pissed at Gilbert, especially when the German handed him a glass of water and an aspirin. He grumbled a quick "thanks" and downed both within seconds. His water was immediately refilled from a pitcher on the bedside table.

Gilbert sat slowly on the bed.

"Birdie," he faltered when Matthew sent him a glare around his third glass of water, then gathered his resolve and started again. "Matthew. I'm not going to try to explain myself yet, because first I want to ask: what the hell were you thinking?!" He stood up suddenly and rounded on the small blond, looking for all the world like an angry parent whose child had gotten a DUI.

"That was enough alcohol to kill a human! I thought you were going to die! If it weren't for your fast-as-fuck bird metabolism, you would have gotten alcohol poisoning. That was the stupidest thing anyone could've done, especially since you have, like, zero experience with hard alcohol."

Matthew clenched his jaw and looked away. "Sorry," he said, words dripping with an uncharacteristic bite of sarcasm, "I wanted to drown out the feeling of being left behind. Again." Whoops. Matthew blamed his hangover for that little overshare.

It seemed to do the trick, though. The fire faded from Gilbert's eyes, and guilt replaced it. "I had no choice," he stammered, "they- Antonio--" he stopped short. "Just let me explain. I didn't forget, and I didn't invite them. They wouldn't leave."

Matthew refrained from saying anything. Instead, he did what he was best at, and stayed silent. Eyes narrowed, the blond waited for Gilbert to bury himself.

It didn't take long, of course. Gilbert was excellent at digging his own grave. During the course of his explanation, the albino spent about twenty minutes falling deeper into a hole, and another half hour clawing his way back out of it, right into another one. Finally, though, he managed to get his point across.

"Wow." Matthew muttered. "You're really bad under pressure."

Gilbert stared at him. "...that's what you got out of this? I mean it's true but come on, I feel like I made my case."

He muttered something under his breath that Matthew could've sworn was "thought I was the savage one." He rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so let's say I believe you. Why did your brother say you went out of town when I went to your store?"

Gilbert stared at him. "You went to my store?" He slapped his forehead. "I knew I should've looked there!" He paced the room once and looked at Matthew, who was now sitting with his feet hanging off the bed. "I told him that so he'd take care of my shop, I couldn't really explain that I was going to go hike through the entire forest looking for my angel boyfriend."

Now it was Matthew's turn to stare. "You did? Gil, that was two days ago!" He winced at his own raised voice. Headache. Right, gotta remember that.

Gilbert shrugged. "I slept on a cool rock, it wasn't bad. I thought maybe you were at home, so I was going to try to find your village, but you weren't kidding when you said it was hidden. Felt like I was trying to find the smurfs. I got totally lost like three times. I was on my way back to get some supplies for another trip when I found you drunk off your ass under a tree."

Matthew blushed. He could feel a block of ice melting in his chest, one that had been there forever and faded when he met Gilbert. He had let it freeze again too easily.

Suddenly he realized how stupid he must look, overreacting so badly to such a simple misunderstanding. Even if Gilbert had forgotten their plans, stealing liquor and getting drunk? Seriously? He must have seemed like a total fool.

"Uh oh, I know that look," Gilbert said, interrupting Matthew's reverie, "it's just like the one I had after the first time I got really wasted when I realized that I had proposed to Francis."

"You wha--"

"Not important." The German held up a hand, ears turning pink. "The point is, it's okay, Birdie. No one judges you for shit that happens when you're stressed, drunk, or both. This is all my fault, and I want to make it up to you."

He sat on the bed, and Matthew leaned against him in relief. "Even though I made you hike through half the forest?"

He felt the albino give a chuckle. "And then some. Oh, hey, that reminds me!" He winced and lowered his voice as Matthew groaned. "Oh god, sorry."

The blond simply waved to continue through the agony of his pounding skull. Gilbert continued in a whisper.

"Remember the rock I told you about? The one I slept on. It was actually really cool. It overlooked a little waterfall and there were ferns and moss, it was so beautiful. I promised myself that I'd take you there as soon as I found you, so," he turned and looked down into Matthew's eyes, "what do you say?"

The angel smiled. "Sounds perfect."

"Let me just get like... three more aspirin."

~ ~ ~

The end

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A/N: I AM SOOO GLAD THAT I GOT MOST OF THIS DONE BEFORE SCHOOL. Otherwise I know I'd never have finished it. May I just take a moment to apologize to you guys, I am so, so sorry. I meant to have this chapter up like a week after the last one, but if I thought I was busy last year I'm gonna have a HELLA time this year. I literally work on school work from the time I wake up in the morning before school to the time I go to bed. But, it doesn't matter now. Because we're done! I loved writing this so much, and I hope you guys enjoyed it as well. Thank you for staying with me through stupidly long waiting periods and even longer authors notes, and leaving so many comments that make my day. I love you guys.

Signing off!

~LJ