“Lukas, please… You know I have projects that are due soon. You know Willem and I are roommates and friends and help each other with homework… You’re blowing things out of proportion...” Mathias’s voice was meek and tired.

It sent a spike of anger through Gillian’s chest to know that some pathetic little twink had the nerve and capability of making Mathias sound so submissive.

“Blowing things out of proportion…” Lukas was quiet. He sounded calm. Too calm. Then there was a chuckle. A dark chuckle. “You think I’m blowing things out of proportion…”

There was a pause, Gillian swallowing thickly in anticipation as the footsteps came to a stop not too far away from where he was hiding. When Lukas spoke up again, the quiet rage in Gillian’s stomach was almost enough to make him want to puke.

“I own you, Mathias. You belong to me. No one else! You shouldn’t even be roommates with anybody else. It’s supposed to be me because you’re mine!” His voice rose to a crescendo. “We should’ve already been living together. We should’ve already been a lot of things, but no, you had to drag me all the way to this forsaken college and keep me waiting and waiting and waiting because you don’t give a damn about my life!”

“Dragged you--” Mathias sounded incredulous, a sharp unamused laugh escaping his lips. “Lukas, you are the one that followed me here. I never asked for you to, and I never wanted you to. I came here to get an education, and you know I needed time--” There was a sharp crack of flesh on flesh that made Gillian wince, his hands curling into fists at his sides.

“Stop bullshitting me, Tyrsen. It’s been over four years! Nobody needs that much time. You’ve just been using me and playing with my emotions, and you know it,” Lukas hissed.

He was throwing a tantrum like nothing he was doing or the way he was acting was wrong. He was blaming everything on Mathias, when Mathias was just...scared and felt pressured from what Gillian could make out.

It made Gillian want to retract his previous statement that he had told Mathias at the beginning of the week. Mathias shouldn’t just dump Lukas’s ass; Lukas deserved to get beaten to a bloody pulp and have his face punched in and his fingers broken. It took all of Gillian’s self-restraint to not just jump over the rink wall and start doing it himself.

Maybe that was just Gillian’s thought process at the moment though. If Lukas really loved Mathias as much as he claimed he did when he was around everyone else and around other people, then Gillian knew that Lukas wouldn’t have raised a hand against Mathias. If someone truly loves somebody, then they would never lay a hand on them in that way, no matter how angry or upset that person might be with the other. That’s how Gillian was raised.

“We graduate in five months. You will not keep me waiting any longer than that, Mathias,” Lukas stated as his footsteps began to retreat in the direction of the changing room, “or you will regret it…”

The threat made Gillian shiver more than the bone-soaking cold of the ice rink. His mind raced back to all of the information that Christopher had ended up pulling up about the kid that Lukas had hospitalized back when he was still in only middle school. If Lukas was planning on doing anything like that to Mathias… The thought nearly made Gillian empty his stomach.

However, the only thing that kept him from doing so was the strangled whimper that fell from Mathias’s lips as he plopped down on one of the benches. “What am I going to do…” he whispered to himself forlornly.

Guilt gnawed at Gillian. This felt like a private, emotional moment that he wasn’t privy to. He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be listening in on Mathias. Clearing his throat, Gillian grabbed the top of the wall, pulling himself up to peek over. “I, uh, know this probably isn’t a good time…”

Mathias jolted out of his seat the moment that he saw Gillian’s head peeking over the wall, his blue eyes wide with surprise. He had been nursing the left side of his face. Glancing around quickly, Mathias hopped over the bench to get to Gillian. “What are you doing here?” he hissed quietly, grabbing Gillian’s arm and helping hoist him out of the ring with an almost desperate expression marring his features.

“I really didn’t mean to overhear anything, I swear. I got here early for the hockey team meeting so I could have the chance to practice a bit and clear my head… I wasn’t expecting-- I didn’t know…” Gillian waved his hands in front of him frantically, though he kept his voice as quiet as possible to keep any prying ears from listening in.

Mathias’s shoulders slumped as he all but collapsed down onto one of the seats, his appearance haggard. “Right… You’re on the team. Sorry…” He rubbed at the dark circles under his eyes. “So you heard all of that…”

It wasn’t a question, but Gillian still felt obligated to answer it. “Yeah, I-- I did…” Sitting down next to Mathias, he rested a hand on his shoulder. “Things...don’t really seem that great between you two…” Actually, now that he thought about it, everything that he had heard Mathias say before had made it seem like Lukas was the one that kept trying to leave or do stuff to leave.

What Gillian had just heard… Lukas had pretty much just declared that Mathias was his property. That crossed so many lines in Gillian’s mind and morals.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll-- I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me, Gil. I’ve been with him for this long--”

“And you’re miserable…” Gillian murmured, eyebrows scrunching together. “Why don’t you just leave? Leave him?” There had to be some sort of logical explanation. Something that could possibly explain why someone would torture themselves with a relationship like that.

Mathias merely shook his head, watery eyes looking up at Gillian and a sad smile tugging at his lips. “I can’t…” He drew in a deep breath, looking down at his lap. “I care about-- I care about him too much to leave…” he whispered, pressing the palms of his hands hard against his eyes.

Gillian stared at Mathias in disbelief. He wanted to pretend like he never heard those words. There was no way that what Mathias had just said could be true. After hearing the way that Lukas talked to him when he thought that nobody else was around, there was no way that Gillian could believe that Mathias still cared about somebody like that, somebody who hurt him.

Maybe he wouldn’t be getting any answers out of Mathias after all. Gillian would’ve thought that of the three options that he had to get information, Mathias should’ve been the one that he could’ve gone to, but if his perception was that skewed, then Gillian was going to have to try to find another way to find out what he needed to know.

“Alright… Alright, I won’t press,” Gillian mumbled, withdrawing his hand with a sigh and running his hand through his hair. There were just so many mixed signals that were being given that Gillian wasn’t sure what he should even believe anymore. “Are you at least excited about the bonfire tomorrow?” he tried asking.

Sighing, Mathias sat up straight, raising an eyebrow and smiling. It wasn’t a full smile, but it was good enough for the moment. “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Mostly just the food though, as always. Didn’t Chris say that he was going to be making a bunch of desserts that he was going to end up bringing? I didn’t even know that he could bake.”

“As long as Tonio doesn’t end up eating them all,” Gillian said, unlacing his skates as he pulled his duffel bag out from under the bench and stuffing them in. “So I guess we’ll see if there’s even going to be any left…”

Honestly a large part of Gillian was starting to feel pissed off that he had even suggested Lukas come to the bonfire, after the exchange that he just heard between the couple. He hated the idea of having to give the directions to Lukas soon, and he hated having to act all buddy-buddy with the guy. He understood the importance of it, but he still hated it.

“Yeah… Well, I guess we should end up going to the meeting. That way we're not late,” Mathias stated, gathering up his belongings with a cheery smile back in place as if the verbal altercation with his boyfriend hadn't even happened.

“Right…” Gillian said slowly, squinting a bit as he stood up. Slipping his shoes back on, he gave a small nod, trailing behind the blonde as he led the way towards the coach's office.

Gillian really wanted to help Mathias. He truly did, and so did his friends. He just hoped that Mathias would be willing to accept their help if it ever came down to it, because at the moment, it didn't seem like Mathias was even willing to help himself…