Isolation

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Five years later and Matthew was still living with Bryce. He really looked up to the man; despite being hundreds of years older he still saw the red head as a father figure. He was the only person that he truly trusted and knew his past.

The Canadian's mental state had improved quite a bit over the last few years. He had lost his stutter and became more confident. He would go out by himself and take his own independent mercenary jobs. Matthew was always cold to adults, but had a softer spot for children.

Currently, Bryce was sitting at the kitchen table cleaning one of their guns while Matthew cooked dinner. The pair had a job later in the night. The blond finished cooking and plated the food before setting it in front of Bryce.

"Thank you." The green eyed man said with a smile setting the pistol to the side and started to eat. Matthew just nodded as a response and sat down to eat as well. "TJ says that these guys are pretty creepy, but there's not too much to them."

"I still don't really understand the whole social media stalking thing." Matthew sighed. He wasn't that good with modern technology. "Or social media in general."

"You're not down with the snaps, twitters and instas?" Bryce teased and the blond rolled his eyes.

"Says the computer wiz." Matthew said and it was the ginger's turn to roll his eyes. "I don't think that's the proper slang."

"It's definitely not." Bryce shrugged finishing his food. He got up and took his plate and Matthew's to the sink. He washed up as the blond finished cleaning the gun. "Ready to go?"

Matthew nodded standing up and handing the pistol over to Bryce. The Canadian wasn't one for guns, he was good at using them, but still preferred knives. He took great comfort in knowing that he could protect himself with just his hands or a small blade.

Bryce took the gun and hid it in his coat. The blond patted his pocket making sure he had his knife, he almost always had it on him. The pair went to the door and put their shoes on before leaving. They needed to go to TJ's bar to pick up any last minute information. Luckily there weren't any changes and the pair of mercenaries were off.

They were after a trio of stalkers. The father of a fourteen year old girl had noticed the stalking about two months ago. He had told the police about the problem, but they hadn't done anything. It had escalated past just online following to the point were the men were after her in public.

The group was pretty easy to spot, they really stood out in a crowd. They were pretty flashy, wearing full three piece dark coloured suits and briefcases. They followed the same route every day and the pair planned to corner them. Bryce had split away from the Canadian to take a shortcut and get in front of them.

Matthew walked slowly behind the group with his head down. He could hear their conversation and had to bite his lip to keep in a growl. The things they were saying made his stomach turn. He followed them for about another block before they turned down into an alley way.

Bryce was already there waiting, leaning against the brick wall. He pushed off and strolled into the centre of the alley way as soon as the men came into view. The men immediately stopped and turned on their heels seeing the ginger. They spotted Matthew and skidded to a stop.

"You need to leave that girl alone." Matthew warned threateningly. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. The men looked at each other before looking back at him. The blond straightened up, squared his shoulders and took a step towards the men. They shrank back, intimidated by the tall Canadian. "Do you understand?"

"What are you going to do about it?" The man closest to the back of the group demanded. The others glared at him.

"I think you know what I'd do about it." Matthew said uncrossing his arms and rolling up his sleeves. The men noticed the scars on his arms and his bruised knuckles. "Or do you need an example?"

The men slowly stepped back until one bumped into Bryce. He yelped and hopped forward quickly apologizing to the red head.

"Ah, n-no that's okay. We understand." He stammered. He looked over to the other two who were nodding. "We'll leave her alone."

"And any others you're currently following." Bryce said pushing through the group. He stood next to Matthew and stared the men down. "Don't let us catch you doing something like this again." He paused for a second moving his coat slightly to show his pistol. "We won't be so... kind."

The trio slowly backed away from the mercenaries before running out of the alley way. Bryce laughed seeing this closing his coat again.

"Always nice to solve something without violence." The red head said rubbing his hands together with a smile. He patted Matthew on the back as they started to walk back to TJ's bar. "You're scary when you want to be."

"Thanks." The Canadian smiled as they walked. It was pretty windy out and smelled like rain was coming. The wind kept blowing his hair into his face and he pulled up his hood with and annoyed huff. "I need to cut my hair soon." He grumbled.

"Just pay someone to do it." Bryce suggested.

"I would, but I don't want to get stuck with a bad hair cut for like a year." Matthew said with a shrug as he pushed the bar door open. He paused and held it for Bryce. The bar was fairly busy for a Tuesday, there were a few couples sitting in the booths and others littered about. There was one group close to the back that caught his eye. They weren't to hard to notice since they were being pretty loud. The one guy was an albino Matthew had seen around once or twice. He drew a lot of attention since he was almost always talking loudly.

The pair walked up and sat down at the bar. TJ just finished serving another customer and turned to them. "Hey guys, how was work?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Good, had a nice talk and settled the deal." Bryce smiled and TJ nodded slipping the ginger an envelope. "We might need to discuss new terms in the future though."

"Oh fun." TJ smiled. "More business the better, eh?"

"Especially with those guys. They're easy to please." Matthew shrugged. TJ was their middle man. He would get and screen jobs for them for a small fee. He was good at getting the word out to the right people. The pair stayed and talked for a little while before walking back home.

Bryce opened the fridge and grabbed a beer. He offered one to Matthew and the blond took it. He opened it with his teeth while the ginger shook his head and opened his on the counter.

"You're going to break a tooth one day." Bryce warned.

"It'll grow back." Matthew shrugged. The green eyed man just shook his head with a small smile.

"Have you found anything on your family?" The red head asked sitting down at the kitchen table.

"I haven't been looking lately." Matthew sighed taking a sip of his drink. He leaned against the counter. "I don't know if he was like me; if he's still around. I don't remember his name and I barely remember his face." He ran a hand through his hair. He didn't think about his Papa often, he barely had any memories left of him. "I don't feel the need to find him anymore. I've got you."

"I'm not going to be around forever kid." Bryce sighed also taking a sip of his drink.

AN: Did a small character drawing thing of Bryce. I've posted it on my tumblr (TallPoppy-Canada) if yaw anna see it.