Lured into the Danger

Dix-Huit

"You okay up here? Not bored or anything?" Gilbert asked Matthew, who was sitting on the floor beneath the turn tables he was controlling.
Matthew nodded. He had been playing on Gilbert's old Nintendo DS to occupy himself. Right now he was playing Mario Kart and he was really into it.
"Do you want food or something?"
He shook his head.
"Just let me know if you want anything." Gilbert said, switching the song to something slow.
Matthew closed the gaming system, standing up in the booth.
"What is it?" Gilbert asked.
Matthew moved in close to Gil, setting his hands on his hips and starting to sway with the music. Gilbert's heart was on fire. He slid in closer until their bodies were fully touching, none of that "save room for Jesus" bullshit from middle school. Jesus had failed Matthew and Gilbert had stopped turning to religion two years before.
The bible said no sex before marriage but it didn't specify which one.
I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Please help me.
"You're really warm." Gilbert muttered, stuffing his face as deep into the starchy collar of Matthew's shirt as he could get. The Canadian smelled like Gilbert's shampoo and the cologne that he let him borrow for the wedding.
Matthew hummed his thanks. It was the only sound he ever made, probably the only one he could.
"I love you."
Again, he hummed and Gilbert felt a sad twist in his gut. He would never be able to hear Matthew say it back, he realized. He knew that Matthew loved him, he was completely sure about it. But he wanted to hear it spoken, he wanted it to be a solid, tangible fact so he wouldn't be kept up at night wondering if he was just imagining it.
Gilbert had hung onto the hope that one day he would speak again, that the Prussian would wake up one day and be greeted with a sleepy "mornin'". Unfortunately, the doctor's appointment he had taken Matthew to, which was required before registration into the mental health facility, had crushed his dreams.
The diagnosis had been dark. Apparently he had sustained a major brain injury from the accident. It was because of this that he wouldn't be able to speak. That's a thing brains can do shhhh I'm a doctor.
"Why didn't Francis fucking tell us that?" Alfred had asked the doctor. "He kept saying that it had to do with the depression."
At that point, Matthew had taken his brother's hand to keep him from taking his anger out on the Doctor.
"It was probably a delusion he had." Gilbert said. "He seemed to think that Matthew would get better."
Matthew would never be truly free from the hell that was going on inside his head. He just didn't make serotonin on his own anymore. The only thing keeping him on track was his meds. Gilbert hoped with everything he had that Matthew would get into a better place after he was done with the facility. He seemed really excited about it, especially with the sign language program they had. Gilbert planned to learn it too, that way they could have more complicated discussions. He had already signed up for an online course.
"I'm gonna miss you so much when you're gone." Gilbert could feel tears brewing in his eyes.
He felt Matthew shift as he nodded.
The Canadian pulled away. With the way they had spun, he was now closer to the controls for the music than Gil. He turned to the playlist and started working the machinery.
"You wanna pick a song?"
Matthew nodded just as the slow song cut out, replaced by rapid drum beats and then...
"You little fuck!" Gilbert gaped as the people on the dance floor groaned at Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up.
Matthew's shit eating grin set his heart aflutter. He leaned forward and kissed his boyfriend with passion.
"I fucking love you so much."