The Darkness Beneath

-8-

Matthew's POV:
"Mattie! Mattie wake up!"
"Hunh? Wha?" Matthew sat up from Lovino's floor, rubbing his eyes and looking around the room, seeing only a blur as his glasses were up on the night stand.
"You were talking in your sleep. I was worried."
"What was I sayin'?" Matthew's head slumped back down. He was wiped from the long day and ready to sleep for another week.
"You were just repeating the word 'die' over and over again. I'm getting worried."
Matthew's tiredness left his body in an instant.
He recalled what Arthur had said about the ghost in his body. That had to be the cause of him talking in his sleep.
"It was probably that pizza we ate before bed. I don't do good sleeping with a full stomach." Matthew lied.
"Do you want to sleep on the bed? It might settle your stomach more."
Matthew blinked. "I don't want to kick you on the floor."
"Who said you were gonna?"
"I...uh...you..." Matthew's face got hot. "We're gonna sleep in the same bed?!"
"Duh. Get up here, idiota!"
Matthew nodded and pulled himself into Lovino's tiny bed. He could feel his friend's body heat no matter how far away he was.
Calm down. You sleep with Alfred all the time. This isn't any different. Lovino is basically your brother.
But was he?
Did Matthew feel...that way about Lovino?
"Um...Lovi..." Matthew whispered, nervous.
"Yeah?"
"Um..." Matthew moved in close, wrapping his arms around the Italian boy with hesitance.
"What are you doing?" Lovino asked, not pulling away.
"I'm sorry. I just...this is more comfortable." Matthew rested his head on Lovino's chest, hearing his heart pounding somehow faster than his own.
"Sleep well." Lovino whispered, voice cracking a little out of nervousness.
Matthew nodded and closed his eyes, letting Lovino's body heat take him away.

Arthur's POV:
Arthur never thought he would be pulling these books off the shelf again after what had happened the last time.
And yet, here he was, looking through them just as he had before.
He remembered which book he had gotten from Vash and which page the incantation was on.
He poured over them every day for the next few months and weeks until he had them memorized. He wanted to know if they would work on this weakened version of the spirit's shell and figured out that it would.
All he had to do was wait for Matthew to come to him.
During that time he hadn't spoken to Matthew once. The teen hadn't even shown up for tutoring.
Arthur was starting to recede into the depressed mess he was before his son had become a part of his class. He had to keep reminding himself that being close to his family was good enough for him and that everything would work out soon enough.
Groaning and dropping the book on his coffee table, Arthur started pacing his apartment. He felt sick. What if Matthew never came to him for help? What if Francis still didn't want to talk?
There was still a chance that Arthur would end up worse off than he had been.
And he didn't think he would be able to survive that.