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Gilbert tried to keep his eyes open, but it was getting harder and harder with each blip he heard from the machine next to him. Every second it made a sound, it meant his precious Matthew was still alive. Alfred and Matthew had been in a car accident a few days ago. Ludwig drove Gilbert to the hospital as soon as the news reached them, but only family members were able to see either of them.
Thankfully, Alfred woke up after the second day and gave Gilbert permission to stay with Matthew while Alfred recovered in the room next door. Several others had already come and gone, bringing flowers to decorate both rooms with, but only Gilbert stayed consistent throughout the room. If he wasn't sitting in a chair near the bed, he was taking a small power nap on the small cot the nurses set up for him upon his refusal to leave Matthew. Ever since the incident with the spider, he and Matthew had become the best of friends.
"Birdie, I need you to open your eyes again. I need to know you're okay," Gilbert whispered. He sighed, closing his eyes as he rested his forehead on the bed sheets of Matthew's bed. Their hands intertwined with each other, but no sign came from Matthew having heard Gilbert's request. "Come on birdie. Normally its you sitting here awaiting for me to wake up. Not the other way around."
Gilbert knocked on Matthew's door, knowing the Canadian was around since it was Wednesday night. The only thing Matthew did on a Wednesday night was watch whatever new show was showing and fold his figured it was time to break the Canadian's routine with a little bit of adventure.
"Gil? What did you do this time?" Matthew shouted the moment he opened the door. Quickly, he grabbed his keys from the small bowl that sat on a small table near the door. Before rushing out with Gilbert, he turned to the hallway closet and tossed Gilbert two towels. "You better have a good explanation for this eh?"
Gilbert only cackled as he used one of the fresh towels to cover the cut on his wrist. He figured after cutting himself rather deeply from his adventures of attempting to cut potatoes while still half asleep, the best person to go to was Matthew. Normally he would still be asleep since he still had his job as a host. Although Wednesdays he had off. So when the bleeding wasn't exactly stopping, or when he felt a little light headed after a few minutes he knew he should probably go to the doctors. But he refrained from saying too much, lest he make the poor Canadian worry even more for Gilbert's safety. He was a better cook than some of his friends. It just so happened that today was not one of those days.
"I was cutting potatoes, but they were being totally uncool and then the knife slipped." Usually Gilbert was rather animated with his hands thanks to certain Italian friend's influence, but with the towel all he could was mimic a strange chopping motion which Matthew quickly stopped as they headed out to the car.
These trips to the ER were something of a frequent thing between Matthew and Gilbert since the incident with the spider. Gilbert found himself in dire need of someone to rush him to the ER for something stupid he did, or when he was too sick to do anything else on his own. Out of all the trips, this was probably the most in danger he had been in for quite some time. He could feel the colour draining from his face as he tried to apply more pressure to his wrist. The trip to the ER was quick thankfully since they didn't live too far away, and Gilbert was sure Matthew broke a few speeding laws. The two were greeted with a friendly smile, having known the front desk lady after their third trip over the course of a year. The two knew the drill, sit down and fill out the paperwork while you waited for the doctor to call your name.
"Why do they have you fill out paperwork when you're bleeding." Matthew shook his head, twirling a piece of his hair in his hand. "We fill this stuff out every time you do something stupid, you would think they have your information on file by now."
"Hey, we don't come here that often." Gilbert huffed, turned his body slightly since he couldn't just cross his arms. "Besides, what's there to be so anxious about? They'll see us when they can and the bleeding has slowed since the time I cut myself."
Gilbert knew when Matthew started to play with his hair he worried, but it was just a cut. He would live and tell the tale for another day. Or at least he told himself that and tried to be brave as he saw spots on in his vision. He could make it. He had gone through worse just trying to come to America. A ringing filled his ears as he tried to get himself to stay sitting up. It was strange at the edges of his vision he couldn't see anything but darkness. A sinking feeling felt it slowly dropped as he tried to will himself to stay conscious.
"Gil, are you okay? You look paler than normal." Gilbert startled a little to see Matthew's face in front of his own, but could hardly make out the sounds of the words since the ringing had not stopped. He figured he would just put on a brave face and assume he was king if he was okay.
"I'm fine. You worry too much. It's only a scratch."
As if to prove it, Gilbert moved his wrists a little, ignoring the pain and strain it put on him. With each movement, the black flecks in his vision grew stronger, sweeping his vision. After a moment he felt himself pitch forward, only to have Matthew catch him, calling for the nearest nurse before he remembered nothing more.
Later when Gilbert woke up in a hospital bed, Matthew explained to him, he had lost quite a lot of blood from the cut. The doctors had given him a blood transfusion and Matthew had stayed with him the whole night through with permission from Ludwig and the doctors. Gilbert vaguely remembered Ludwig was in another state doing some conference when it all happened. While the cut had not killed him, if it had gone any deeper it would have been a whole other story. Even after everything was said and done, the cut had turned into a scar that reminded Gilbert of that day. They day he knew Matthew would stay by his side no matter what happened. Someone he could trust with anything, even his life. Matthew was someone special and he would do anything to have his birdie wake up and scold him for doing something stupid, or invite him over for pancakes again. It was the first memory he could truly say he felt the possibility of loving the boy who was now laying in the bed in front of him. He couldn't lose him now that finally realised he did truly want something more than just a friendship with his neighbour. Something more than just the random small adventures of ER trips, and random nights of pancakes and coffee with a cake Ludwig made the day before.
"Birdie, please. I have things I need to say."