Savior

(and how Gilbert became Matthew's)

. . .

Part I

The only reason that Gilbert was currently sitting in a small cubicle, absently spinning around in an office chair, working for Teenline(which apparently was one of those organizations that allowed teenagers to call and talk to people about their problems, and where the person on the other line would pretend to care), was because he'd earned detention for punching some kid in the face and knocking them out or something. And he'd been oh so lucky that his detention happened to be on the same time as the senior dance.

He didn't really care for the dance, but his best friend's boyfriend was performing and Gilbert had promised to come to support him. As much as it didn't seem to fit Gilbert's personality to do so, he always kept his promises. Always, damn it, and he was not going to let detention break his loyalty streak. So he offered to do something else to work off his detention.

That was how he ended up in the current setting, bored after already talking to three people. They had all been girls, all crying when Gilbert answered their calls. They gushed about their recent breakup and how Stephanie had stole their boyfriend and how they weren't allowed to go to some party or something stupid like that. Needless to say, nearing the end of his shift, Gilbert was feeling pretty irate.

Looking around, he wondered to himself how these people could stand sitting there almost all day, if he himself was already almost insane after only two hours. Gilbert sighed and halted his chair-spinning, propping his feet up on the desk in front of him. Just before he could close his eyes and take a quick nap, the phone to his right rang shrilly and he almost fell over.

Gilbert snatched the phone up and snarled into the receiver, "What?" Great. What was it going to be this time? A broken nail? He honestly wouldn't be surprised.

There was a sniffle from the other line. "H-hello?" the voice said meekly. "Is this..."

"Yeah, this is Teenline, where we listen to your problems and pretend to care," Gilbert snapped. "Just get on with it." With luck, the last fifteen minutes of his shift would end in the middle of this call. He wondered if he'd be allowed just to hang up and leave.

"I'm sorry," the person said softly.

"What the fuck are you sorry for, kid?" Gilbert asked. He couldn't tell whether this was a girl or boy, even though the voice was sounding pretty feminine.

"You sound like you're not really enjoying this," the person elaborated. "It's okay, I just wanted to-"

Ah. The guilt trip. Gilbert almost slammed his head on the desk in frustration. Why was he so vulnerable to guilt trips? "No, don't hang up," he interrupted smoothly. "I'm just...tired. But I have fifteen more minutes to kill, so you can go ahead and enrich me in how your life is."

"Okay, then." There was a pause. "My life... Well, everything's been pretty hectic lately."

"Yeah. Those exit exams suck," Gilbert agreed.

The person laughed. Gilbert finally figured that this was a male, which surprised him. Unfairly, he'd thought that only girls did this sort of thing. "Yeah, they do," the boy said, "and they don't help with the fact that I have other things on my mind that are more important."

The boy paused again, and Gilbert wondered if he was supposed to say something. Thankfully, he didn't have to. "But I study for them anyway," the person continued. "My family is one of those ones who are big on school, so I do my best to make them proud."

"My parents died when I was young, so I can't really relate to that, kid," Gilbert said. "I have a brother though, and he bothers me about my grades a lot too. Is that close enough?"

"I suppose so." There was some rustling before the boy asked, "What's your brother like?"

Gilbert was surprised at the question. "Well," he began tentatively, running a hand through his silver hair, "he's younger than me. He won't admit it, but he loves it when I cook wurst for him."

"That must be nice," the boy replied, sounding wistful. "To be able to do that with your brother, I mean."

"You sound like you know a thing or two about brothers," Gilbert said, red eyes flickering to the digital clock on the desk. Eleven more minutes.

"I have a brother," the boy admitted. "A twin, actually. I love him and all, but I hate when people mistake me for him. Sometimes he'll really piss someone off, and I'll get beaten up because that someone will think that I'm him."

Gilbert whistled. "That's tough," he commented. "You should tell him to grow a pair and deal with his own problems."

"He can't help it, he's just naturally annoying," the boy said, and Gilbert frowned when he realized that he was defending his brother. Hadn't he been complaining about him a few seconds ago?

"Yeah, but still, the fact that you're getting beaten up because of him isn't right," Gilbert argued, surprised that he felt like he actually cared.

"He can't help it..." the boy repeated softly. The conversation trailed off into an awkward silence.

"So. Is the rest of your family more decent than your brother?" Gilbert queried, finding that he had six more minutes and feeling that he should draw the call to a close.

If the boy was bothered by his brother being insulted by a stranger, he said nothing about it. "They don't notice me much, but I know that they love me."

For some reason, this made Gilbert fume. This kid - whoever he was - was such a pushover! It infuriated Gilbert that he let himself be pushed around so easily. Didn't he feel that he should stand up for himself? Why didn't he stand up for himself? His brother was an ass, his parents didn't sound any better, and it seemed like the kid was content with things staying like that for the rest of his life.

"Why don't you speak up for yourself?" Gilbert demanded, interrupted the other in the middle of a sentence. "From what you've told me, you let your family treat you like shit. Do you let your friends do that too?"

"I don't really-"

"Don't give me excuses!" Gilbert raged. "Start sticking up for yourself! Don't call this place because you can't deal with it. At least try solving your own problems first!" He added, "You're just like your brother, not facing your problems. Except he's better, because at least he sounds like he'd be able to hold his own."

"Stop." The faint command barely registered in Gilbert's ears and it took him much effort not to keep ranting. "Stop comparing me to my brother and stop acting like you know everything about me."

"But I bet I do," Gilbert muttered. "Let me guess, you get picked on in school? Or you're so overshadowed by your brother that no one notices you?" By then, Gilbert had no idea what was coming out of his mouth, only that he needed to get his point across. "Kid, listen. Everyone goes through that at some point in their life. I'm not being harsh or cruel, but calling here isn't your best choice. I know that sometimes it can feel lonely, but talk to your brother. Your parents. Don't talk to a stranger, talk to them, the people that you know. And don't... Don't try to deal with things on your own." Relief flooded through Gilbert when he saw that his shift was finally over. "I have to go. Kid, take my advice, okay?"

As he was about to put the phone back down, he heard the boy frantically call, "Wait!"

With a small sense of impatience, Gilbert brought the phone back to his ear. "P-Please don't hang up. You were right about me, and you're right that I should- and I shouldn't have-" He couldn't get out anymore and Gilbert heard him start to cry.

"Hey, calm down," Gilbert said, feeling his hand tighten on the phone. Why was he getting a bad feeling...?

"My name is Matthew Williams," the boy managed to say through tears. "I live two blocks away from your building. I did something really, really stupid."

"Kid?" By now Gilbert was starting to panic. What had this Matthew done? "What did you do?"

"I wasn't thinking," Matthew said, voice taking on a hysteric tone. "I-I found the sleeping pills in my d-dad's cabinet, and I just grabbed them and-"

Sleeping pills. Oh, shit. Not good, not good. Gilbert stood in his seat, looking around wildly for the person in charge. "Someone call the police!" he shouted. "God damn it you people, hurry, this kid could die!" It wouldn't take a genius to figure out what Matthew had done with the sleeping pills. A few people looked up at him, most giving him skeptical looks. "I'm not joking!" Gilbert roared. "Call the police!" He couldn't leave the phone and risk Matthew drifting off while he was gone.

"Please, I'm feeling really sleepy," Matthew sobbed. "I take it back, I don't want to die."

"Don't worry, I'm getting the police, we'll be there soon," Gilbert soothed. "Stay awake for a little while more, okay? Okay, Matthew?"

"Please," Matthew said weakly, "please, please...don't let me die..."

A/N: This is going to be a twoshot, so I'll put up the next part when I get around to writing it. Meanwhile, I hope I did okay with the dialogue, even though Matthew is really OOC here. XD