Isolation

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Matthew yawned blinking awake, he hadn't realized he had fallen asleep outside. He stretched sitting up and looking around. The sun was just rising and the dew on the grass was melting. He rolled onto his feet and went back into the house. Bryce was supposed to be home sometime today.

The blond yawned and started to make some coffee. He had gotten home late last night. TJ called and said he had an easy job for him. It was fairly simple, find and beat up a man that had been harassing the local corner store owner. The man had fought back and managed to land a couple of hits, but Matthew was used to the pain and took him down quickly. The man wouldn't be bugging the owner for quite some time.

Kumajirou had toddled out from where ever he had been sleeping and climbed his way up onto the nation's shoulder as he waited for his coffee. "Where did you go last night?" The cub asked.

"I fell asleep outside." Matthew said as the coffee finally finished brewing. He poured a cup and put the pot back.

"That's probably not safe." Kumajirou said resting his head on top of Matthew's. The blond just shrugged and pushed up to sit on the counter Kumajirou hopped of his shoulder and pawed at his leg.

The Canadian reached over and picked him up again setting him in his lap. "What is it Kuruma?"

"Do you have any fish?" He asked giving him puppy dog eyes. "I want some fish Mark."

"I'm pretty sure we have some canned tuna." The blond said looking over his shoulder into the cabinets. He managed to find a can of salmon. "It's not seal, but it'll do."

"Thank you!" Kumajirou said taking the can and gnawing it open. Matthew winced knowing that it probably wasn't good for the bear's teeth.

"Kumba?" Matthew asked. The cub paused and looked up at him. "Do you remember anything about Papa?"

"He was French?" Kumajirou offered. "It was so long ago."

"Do you know if he was like us?" The Canadian asked. The memories of his Papa were almost completely gone. He could only remember small snippets.

"I didn't stick around long enough to find out." The cub sighed finally opening the can and munching on the fish. "I left about a day after you disappeared. I tried to track your scent, but it rained and I lost it." Kumajirou took another bite of fish. "I stayed up north and came down south every once in a while to see if I could find your scent again."

"Well I'm glad you found me again." Matthew hummed with a smile running a hand through the cub's fur before getting up and going into the living room. He turned on the tv and surfed for awhile finally sticking with a history show. He slowly sipped his coffee only half watching the tv.

The Canadians mind wandered to Gilbert again. He smiled to himself thinking of the albino. He had no idea how he was so calm and easily spoken around him when just thinking about him made him flustered. He had never thought about someone the way he thought about Gilbert. It had only been one 'date,' but he really liked the albino. Matthew was nervous about letting someone new into his life, but decided to see what would happen.

It was mid-day when he heard the front door open and Bryce stepped in with a sigh. "Morning." He greeted setting his bag down. The red head looked down at his watch. "Oh wait, afternoon."

Matthew laughed. "There's some coffee in the kitchen. It sounds like you need it."

"Thanks." Bryce said picking up his backpack and disappearing into his room. He came back out a few minutes later in comfy clothes and grabbed some coffee. "So, how was your week?" He asked sitting in one of the armchairs. Kumajirou looked up as he entered. He stretched before curling up and falling asleep again.

The Canadian smiled, he sounded like such a dad. "Pretty good. Went to the bookstore, met a guy, went for coffee, had a beat up job. Lots of reading and lazing around."

"Met a guy?" Bryce asked raising an eyebrow sipping his coffee.

"Remember the loud albino guy that's at TJ's sometimes?" Matthew asked and Bryce nodded. "He came up to me when I was at the bookstore. He asked me out for coffee."

"Nice guy?" The green eyed man asked seriously. Matthew nodded raising an eyebrow. "Just wondering if I need to grab the shovel. It's good that you're talking to people. Did you get his number? Will you see him again?"

"I did, yeah." The blond knew that he was blushing. He could feel the heat in his cheeks. He looked down at the floor. Just thinking of Gilbert made him flustered and blushy. "I think so."

The ginger was just smiling seeing him blush. He hadn't seen the Canadian like this before. "I think you should." Matthew looked back up meeting Bryce's eyes. "You seem excited about him."

"You're okay with me..." He trailed off looking down again. The blond knew that there were people out there that didn't accept two people of the same gender dating. The subject had never come up with Bryce before. "I mean I don't really know where it'll go with him, but?"

"Matthew, I don't care who you love or end up with as long as you're happy." The green eyed man said running a hand through his hair. "What did you two talk about?" The Canadian explained what they talked about while Bryce listened. "A politician, huh? Gotta watch out for those. They lie a lot."

"Says you." Matthew said rolling his eyes with a smile. "We're 'private detectives' not mercenaries." He said sarcastically using air quotes.

"Fair enough." Bryce shrugged. "Did you call him?"

"Not yet, I'm kind of nervous." The blond admitted.

"Just call and ask him to go see a movie or something." The ginger said with a small smile. "Or whatever kids these days do."

Matthew cracked a smile. "Oh! TJ said the skills display is coming up this week." The Canadian said suddenly remembering. "Same place as last year, same stuff tested too."

The skills display was an annual meeting of a bunch of mercenaries. They came from all over Canada to compete against each other in three categories, hand to hand, close range pistol and long range rifle shooting. It was good for business as there were potential clients watching.

The first year Matthew had gone to the display he was nervous. He trusted his skills, but was worried about running into someone he knew from his past. He kept close to his mentor, never leaving Bryce's side. He was confident that he could get away from or fight them if it came to that, but he was still scared. He never recognized anyone and his anxiety was pointless.

"I wondered when that was coming up." Bryce mumbled. "We'll have to go to the range and see how our aim is. We can do hand to hand in the basement."

"I'll probably need some good practice with the guns. I haven't used one in a few months." Matthew sighed. He didn't really like using guns, but he would if he had to.

"I definitely need to brush up on hand to hand." Bryce grumbled sipping his coffee and setting it down on the table. "I'm getting to old for this shit."