Class is for NERDS! (Mathias)

[ANTONIO FERNANDEZ CARRIEDO]

Math class was the worst part of Antonio's day. It was held in a stuffy, blank room with not enough windows for everyone's daydreams and uncomfortable metal chairs. It did not help that the class was the perfect place for an after-lunch nap either. Luckily, that was not on the menu for him today! Instead, he was skipping that boring class and going somewhere probably dangerous with one of his very best friends, Mathias. In order to keep from getting caught, they decided to hang out near the château, heedless for warnings or the fact that they could probably get in big trouble for going there in the first place. No, they were going to take naps, mess around and maybe even explore a little bit! It was going to be a blast and Antonio was buzzing with excited energy as they made their way towards it.

"Oh man, I have not been over here yet, I wonder if it is actually creepy like everyone says!" He exclaimed, pushing a branch out of his way. "I hope it is, that would be exciting!" With a grin, he grabbed Mathias by the arm and started tugging him along faster, eager to get to their destination. "Maybe we will see a ghost! I hope you are not afraid of them, because I kind of am and your powers would probably be more effective against them than mine would." Okay, now he was just babbling, but it was just so refreshing to be away from school and its dumb rules. They could do whatever they wanted out here!

[MATHIAS ANDERSEN]

There had been many texts messages exchanged between Mathias and Antonio over what they were going to do that day instead of going to math class. Mathias had thought about telling Antonio that he had learned how to make other people float with his powers, without using any kind of apparatus, but he was somewhat afraid that the Spaniard would’ve wanted to have done something crazy, like hurling himself over the edge of a mountain… and if there was one thing that Mathias did not like, it was heights. All of his life he had been quite terrified, but it wasn’t like he was going to tell anyone else that.

Plus, trying to talk over text messages when both him and Antonio were absolutely terrible at using any kind of technology was often times a bigger disaster than it was them getting anything done. But in the long run of things, they had decided that they were going to go exploring.

They were going to explore the old chateau. In all of his years at Asher Academy, the Dane hadn’t ever gotten a chance to go to the chateau, however much the other students had ranted and raved about it to him. He didn’t know why, but despite his somewhat curious nature, and his love for exploration, he hadn’t ever gotten far enough into the forest to get to the chateau. Who even built chateaus in the middle of the forest anyway!?

It was crazy, but it was still pretty curious. Which was why he was glad that he was getting to explore it with his friend. What made this whole idea even better, was that besides the fact that he was going with his friend, he was also skipping one of the worst classes the school had to offer. The dreaded math class. And even though he wasn’t in a particularly hard class, Mathias was dreadfully bored the hour or so while he was in it. He didn’t even understand why he had to take a class like that when he was senior. So many other students were able to opt out… why wasn’t he?

But the second he met up with Antonio in their “TOP SECRET MEETING ZOME... *ZONE” he felt his negative thoughts about math wander off into the light, and he was now facing his friend, bouncing on the ball of his feet. He was so excited in fact, that he didn’t realize that either of them hadn’t spoken until they were practically dashing into the trees with a strange vigor.

"Oh man, I have not been over here yet, I wonder if it is actually creepy like everyone says!" Antonio pushed a branch out of his face, and Mathias took the moment to catch it before it whapped into his friend’s back, "I hope it is, that would be exciting!" Mathias chuckled at the Spaniard’s eagerness and nodded his head in agreement.

"Maybe we will see a ghost! I hope you are not afraid of them, because I kind of am and your powers would probably be more effective against them than mine would."

“I haven’t either! It’s kind of weird now that I think about it, but… I heard there were ghosts in here! I’ve never actually seen a real ghost before! I’m not really afraid of them, but I will be if they try to attack us!” Not that Mathias even really believed in ghosts in the first place. He figured that they were just some creation made to scare small children. But he wasn’t going to ruin Antonio’s fun with his silly beliefs and thoughts.

Mathias stepped over a rather tall root, before using another larger one to allow himself to shimmy over the top of a fallen tree.

“Be careful here Antonio, it’s kind of unstable!” He bit his bottom lip and shoved himself over it, before turning around to make that the other could make it over as well, “I’ll grab your hand if you want!” He didn’t know how good of a climber the Spaniard was, but he needed to offer his help, didn’t he?

[ANTONIO FERNANDEZ CARRIEDO]

Back in Spain, Antonio's farmhouse had definitely been haunted. Things would always move around during the night, even though everyone was already asleep. More than once, he would wake up in the darkness to the brush of cold fingers against his neck or face, but when he turned to ask whoever it was what they needed, no one was there. Other times, he would be drifting off to sleep when someone would start to whisper in his ear only to see his brothers asleep in their beds when he looked over to find the culprit. The last thing he needed on this trip was to deal with more ghosts! He had just gotten away from them. He frowned at the thought.

“I haven’t either! It’s kind of weird now that I think about it, but… I heard there were ghosts in here! I’ve never actually seen a real ghost before! I’m not really afraid of them, but I will be if they try to attack us!”

"You have never seen one? If we do not find any here, you should come visit me over the summer. My house is full of them!" He grinned as he followed closely behind Mathias, not really paying much attention to his footing.

“Be careful here Antonio, it’s kind of unstable!”

The warning came at the same time as his foot caught and twisted on a root hidden in the underbrush. He fell to the ground, pain exploding from his ankle. Getting up slowly, Antonio muttered Spanish curses under his breath. That was pretty painful, but he didn't want to worry Mathias, so he gave a small chuckle before brushing himself off and moving to step over the other roots. "That...was a bit late, amigo--HAY hijo de la puta madre!"

Stumbling with a gasp, he slapped one hand over his mouth and the other against a nearby tree. Flushing with embarrassment, he looked up at Mathias before taking the hand away from his mouth to say "I am sorry you had to hear that." With an apologetic grin, he limped over--this time careful of his footing--and took the hand offered to him with a thanks as he climbed over. His ankle would probably feel better in a little bit, but for now it was pretty painful.

[MATHIAS ANDERSEN]

"You have never seen one? If we do not find any here, you should come visit me over the summer. My house is full of them!"

Mathias spaced out a moment, leaving his hand outstretched. Of course he hadn’t seen one. Even though there were plenty of old scary places back in Aalborg, to be honest, Mathias was not at those places at night, and his apartment building, well it was probably much too new and modern to house anything frightening like a ghost or spirit. That and his mom always told him that ghosts never seemed to appear to those who didn’t believe in them, and for some reason, Mathias really didn’t believe in them! It wasn’t like he was doing it on purpose or anything! It was just how it was! Honest!

But just when Mathias realized that his friend had yet to grab a hold of his hand, a sudden stream of Spanish curses, or at least what he believed was Spanish cussing flowed through his ears and his eye widened at the sight of his best friend on the ground, stumbling to stand over the roots. Mathias bit the inside of his mouth, hoping that Antonio would be able to make the rest of the journey to nowhere.

"I am sorry you had to hear that."

Antonio limped towards him and grabbed a square hold of his hand, and Mathias wondered idly if it would be a good idea to give his friend some kind of piggy-back ride. However, he was aware that despite Antonio’s height, he wasn’t lacking in muscles, and as a result he was a bit on the heavy side. Not that someone being heavy had ever stopped him before! He was Mathias Andersen after all! Champion of the school weightlifting team! (Okay, not really but he was pretty good at it!)

“Yeah, you’re alright, right? I mean, you can walk around and stuff, right? You are limping, maybe you could use my arm as a crutch or something! Or hop around on one leg like a pirate!” Mathias still had a rather tight hold on Antonio’s hand as he started to drag him along the path once again, “..No wait pirates don’t have one leg.”

Whoops, here he was going with his babbles, not even giving his friend a chance to answer, or even get his bearings for that matter. He really needed to pay more attention to his friends sometimes!

“Do you need me to hold you over my shoulder or something? I could do it. Unless we actually do see a ghost… or a snake. If we see some kind of freaky poisonous snake I might drop you on accident. But I’ll do my best to hold on!” Mathias flashed him a thumbs up, as he had come to a stop, and was allowing Antonio a moment or so to find his breath, in case he was really was hurt, and they needed to turn back and go to the school.

But if they went back to the school. Oooo… then they’d be in for it. Getting yelled at for skipping class. Then they would get yelled at from teachers trying to tell them that this “wouldn’t have happened had they had just stayed in math class like they were supposed to!!” Well Mathias would have to just tell them that it wouldn’t have mattered either way because they would more than likely sneak out a thousand times before the year was over and if they were going to break their ankles, then it didn’t matter because it was just going to happen regardless.

Thinking it over in his head, Mathias wasn’t sure if that made any sense, but either way, if Antonio wanted to go back, he would go back to the infirmary with him, it was not a big deal at all! Mathias would just glare down any teacher that tried to yell at them! Or maybe not…last time he was yelled at by a teacher, he ended up begging for the teacher to not tell his mom. Especially because he had gotten into a fight with another kid, and he didn’t want to disappoint her. But this was different… right? Right!?

[ANTONIO FERNANDEZ CARRIEDO]

"Yeah, you're alright, right? I mean, you can walk around and stuff, right? You are limping, maybe you could use my arm as a crutch or something! Or hop around on one leg like a pirate!"

Antonio had barely gotten over the log when Mathias was off again, leaving him to stumble and hop behind him. "Mathia--" "..No wait pirates don't have one leg." In order to keep from falling flat on his face from his friend's fast paced walking, Antonio clung desperately to Mathias' arm, frowning as he tried to get his balance back. "If you could just hol--" "Do you need me to hold you over my shoulder or something? I could do it. Unless we actually do see a ghost.... or a snake. If we see some kind of freaky poisonous snake I might drop you on accident. But I'll do my best to hold on!"

He was ready to cry out in frustration at this point, but luckily Mathias chose this moment to give his friend some respite. He slowly released his death grip on Mathias' arm and sunk to the ground to assess his injury properly, now that he had the chance. It was throbbing painfully even while he was not using it, thanks to a certain someone. With a small wince, he slipped off his shoe and sock, moving his foot around slowly. Luckily it did not look swollen...yet? Maybe it would not swell at all, that would be really great. "Mathias! There are a lot of pirates with only one leg. They have peg legs, remember?" He huffed and tugged at his friend to sit next to him, this was going to take a minute. "I mean, pirates are horrible in all forms so it does not really matter either way, but I cannot think of any other stereotype that rocks a peg leg the way a pirate can."

Why were they talking about pirates again? Pirates were scary and awful, Antonio did not want to be compared to one at all! Letting his leg drop to the ground, he propped his arms up on his remaining knee and glared at nothing. "I do not suppose you have anything I could wrap this with?" he asked, trying to hide the annoyance in his voice. This was the first time in a while that he had been able to do something fun like this with Mathias, it would be a shame to have it end over something dumb like this! Nope, going back now was the last thing he wanted to do. As long as he took care of it as soon as they got back, everything should be fine, right? Yeah, that should be fine. "You know what? It is not that important anyway, nevermind!" He paused to collect his sock and shoe before turning to give Mathias a reassuring grin. "We should get on our way, anyway. That way we can actually get there before the period ends!"

[MATHIAS ANDERSEN]

“I know but doesn’t the peg count as a second leg? Not that it really matters… I prefer vikings anyway!” Mathias scooted up next to his friend and plopped on the ground next to him, staring at his foot as Antonio pulled his shoe off. Mathias could see that it was a bit red, however it wasn’t swollen too badly yet, but he knew that if they ran around too much more, it would look like a grapefruit within time. Maybe Antonio wouldn’t have minded if Mathias kind of just… lifted him up?

”I do not suppose you have anything I could wrap this up in?”

Mathias really needed to break himself of his silly spacing out habit. This was just getting out of hand! But regardless, he didn’t really have anything on him, because he had decided to leave his bag behind. What a silly time to decide something like that! He was losing his touch! He needed to get back in the game sometime soon, seriously!

"You know what? It is not that important anyway, nevermind!" The Dane watched as his friend gathered his things, eventually turning and flashing him a smile, "We should get on our way, anyway. That way we can actually get there before the period ends!"

Mathias felt his eyebrows furrow a bit in worry, but eventually his nodded his head.

“Maybe you should use your sock!” Mathias pulled his own foot outwards, wondering if his sock would work better, but then he remembered that he was known for having smaller feet, and he would’ve felt like a huge dork wearing long socks, so he did his very best to just avoid those at all costs, “If that doesn’t work, then you can just hold onto my arm, and I’ll help you along! It’ll be as easy as pie!” Mathias chose that moment to hold his arm outwards to his friend, and to flash him a huge grin.

“But if you need to, I can carry you, a bit. And if it looks really swollen or something…” Mathias shut his eyes, and could feel the grin fading from his face a bit, “W-we could try to fly out of here or something.” Mathias hated flying. In fact, he loathed flying. Ever since he was a young boy, he had hated being in places with high drops downwards. He tried to keep it to himself for fear of being called a chicken or something, but sometimes it was just too great a secret to hide. Especially on long trips that took him to far off places… like Norway. Where there were great huge fjords that sent his heart rate racing at about forty-five million beats per minutes. Heck there was even a huge cliff in the area that sent his heart into palpitations just thinking about! He wasn’t even sure if he knew what palpitations meant, but that was exactly what happened whenever he was near heights.

And flying was the all about the heights. Not to mention that he was terrible at it. He figured that this injury wouldn’t require the use of his flying er… talents. It didn’t seem that bad! Maybe it was just stinging! If that was the case, then just allowing for Antonio to use him as a crutch would be the perfect option!

“I think we can make it Antonio! Just tell me if it starts to hurt really badly, okay?” Maybe there wouldn’t be any more strangely placed trees around either! If that were the case, he’d make sure to pull Antonio over to prevent any falling.

Or maybe he was just being overprotective of his friend? After all, Antonio was his best friend and if something bad happened to him, he’d hate it a lot! Not that him falling on his ankle wasn’t bad, but if it got worse, it could mean really bad things! He didn’t want to have his best friend being stuck bedridden for the rest of his life! He couldn’t have that at all!

Of course his mind was telling him this was some kind of gross over exaggeration, but what if it did happen!? No he was Mathias he wasn’t going to let his friend die! I mean, He wasn’t going to let his friend become bedridden!

Letting his thoughts take advantage of him, he decided to scoot over to Antonio and lift him off of the ground bridal-style, not even giving the other an explanation or even a chance to really get himself moving to check the injury out for good… although he knew he couldn’t carry his friend around for long. Maybe just long enough for Antonio to reassure him of his… rather ludicrous ideas.

[ANTONIO FERNANDEZ CARRIEDO]

"Maybe you should use your sock!"

Antonio paused at the suggestion halfway through putting on said sock and stared at it. In its current state, his sock was rather useless as a binding tool, but maybe if he cut it somehow... There was a whole bunch of adventure supplies(read: useless junk) in his pockets that he had brought just in case they needed it, maybe he had something he could use in there! If he recalled correctly, there should be a pocket knife in one of them-- "Aha!" he flipped the blade open with a flourish before getting to work. Cutting carefully, he managed to create two long strips that were perfect for the task required. "Good idea, Mathias!"

He kind of just half-listened to Mathias' words as he got to work wrapping his ankle. It was not that he did not care for what his friend was saying, but that he knew it was mostly worried babble. He had been friends with Mathias long enough to know when the Dane was speaking to him and when he was voicing his thoughts out loud. He did pause when his friend started speaking about flying. Mathias absolutely hated flying. Even being picked up was scary for him, so if he was talking about flying out... wow he must be really freaking out! It would probably be best to reassure him that everything was actually okay right about now. "Uh, that is alright Mathias, it is probably not even sprained. I think we are fine to keep going actually, I have walked around on worse."

Antonio quickly knotted the temporary bandage off and was getting ready to stand up and prove that there was nothing to worry about, but it seemed that his friend had other things in mind. Just as he slipped his shoe on, a pair of arms slid under his knees and back and hoisted him into the air, causing him to cry out in surprise and cling to the Dane's neck. He almost started kicking and flailing in protest, but he did not actually want to be dropped, lest he damage his ankle even more. "M-Mathias! I am not a girl, put me down! I am fine, really you do not have to do this! We are almost there anyway, I think I can even see it from here."

Mathias was definitely taller than him, it was a bit cool to be able to see everything from this angle. However, he did feel a bit emasculated by this treatment. No one had picked him up like this since he was a little boy. It was a bit embarrassing to be on the receiving end again. "...Please do not drop me." he muttered, burying his reddening face into his friend's shoulder. Hopefully no one else had the fantastic idea to ditch class and go to the château too.

[MATHIAS ANDERSEN]

"M-Mathias! I am not a girl, put me down! I am fine, really you do not have to do this! We are almost there anyway, I think I can even see it from here."

Mathias could hear his friend pleading, but his thoughts seemed to be a bit clouded right now with his own negative thoughts.

"...Please do not drop me."

Mathias blinked as he felt his friend bury his face into his shoulders, and he laughed a bit uneasily, knowing that that wouldn’t be a problem at all. He wouldn’t ever drop Antonio if he could help it, and right now, he definitely could help it. He was even being extra careful where he put his feet in case a root decided to jump out at him, which they tended to do a lot in this forest.

“Don’t worry Antonio, I’ll let you down when we get inside, but if you put too much pressure on it, your ankle will be as big as a grapefruit ! Then it will just hurt even more tomorrow!” Being the kind of friend he was, Mathias really did not want anyone to see his best friend being emasculated in this way, but he doubted anyone was skipping class to take a detour to a creepy haunted mansion in the middle of the woods today. Or at least, he really hoped no one would. They were supposed to be in class anyway!

Nodding to himself, Mathias scanned the area ahead of him. Antonio was right. The mansion was right nearby, and looking at, Mathias could tell that it hadn’t been inhabited in years. At least by humans it hadn’t. It was large and looming, and some kind of uncontrolled plant that reminded the Dane of really oversized ivy growing all over the walls and covering what was once windows. The pillars where the wrap-around porch seemed to be rotting, and the whole entire place gave the tall man chills to the point where he almost wished he were the one being carried.

“Wow… this place is really creepy!” He exclaimed, walking through what was once a locked off gate, but had since been picked open by students or by people who were intent on stealing what once comprised of the estate. Mathias doubted there was anything left to steal anymore, not that he would’ve stolen from it in the first place. He hated stealing, to be quite honest. It was so wrong!

But putting those thoughts out of his head, he pulled Antonio with him further onto the porch, and not one to forget what he tells someone, he (extremely carefully) set his friend onto his feet.

“If your feet start to hurt, please tell me…” He pursed his lips, and using his foot with a combination of his powers, the Dane kicked the front door down, and took a step inside. But obviously that wasn’t the best of ideas, because it seemed to kick up a pile of dust, and a bunch of it flew up into his face. The Dane stumbled forwards, letting out a cough, only to find himself stumbling over something that was laid haphazardly on the ground.

“Shit!” He yelled, as he attempted to gain his balance, putting his hand on a moldy coat rack to help him. The second he regained his balance, he stood up straight and looked for what caused him to tumble, his eyes skimming over a red jewel, a wolf’s head, and finally, the long end of a cane. His eyes widened suddenly as he slowly bent over to pick the object up off of the ground. He ran his fingers lightly over the top of it for a moment, before he whirled around to face Antonio, his mouth hanging open.

Antonio fell.

He hurt his ankle.

Mathias almost tripped himself. Over a cane. There was only one explanation… But no. It couldn’t be that! ANYTHING BUT THAT.

“Antonio! L-look what I found!” Mathias stumbled over his words as he frantically waved the cane through the air.

No way, ghosts weren’t real! This was just a coincidence!

[ANTONIO FERNANDEZ CARRIEDO]

Though Mathias had promised not to drop him, Antonio still felt a bit nervous as they made their way through the unstable forest floor. At least he would let him down when they got to the chateau. It would have been much less exciting if he wasn't able to explore at his own digression. As they got close to the gate, he grew more and more restless and eager to be back on his feet. When was Mathias going to let him walk anyway? They were pretty much here now, he said he would put him down!

"Wow... this place is really creepy!"

Antonio pulled his head up from his friend's shoulders to give the area a closer look. It really was something out of a thriller novel. He was so lost in examining the details of the building that he was taken by surprise when Mathias finally set him on his own two feet. Waving off the Dane's concern, he limped over to the edge of the porch--to get a better view of the building. He placed a stabilizing hand on the crumbling railing so he could look up, careful not to add too much weight to the rotting wood. Actually, why was he even touching it in the first place? How unsanitary! However, before he could move it, a loud smash demanded his attention. It looked like Mathias had found their way inside...even if it looked like touching the mansion wrong would send the whole thing down on their heads. "Oh good, you found a way insi-- Mathias!! Are you alright?"

The last thing they needed was both of them to be injured, so Antonio moved quickly to help his friend upon seeing him trip and stumble. However, when he was halfway there he realized that his hand had never left the railing... ew, bugs are crawling out of it. Casting the wood aside with a grimace, he wiped his hand off on his shirt before continuing to the door.

"Antonio! L-look what I found!"

He was waving around a sinister looking cane. It was kind of cool looking actually, it must have been dropped by the person who came here before them, since it was sitting around with an expensive looking jewel in it. Why did someone leave something so valuable behind? Was it...cursed? No no, now was not the time to think about stupid superstitions, Mathias would probably laugh at him if he said something like that out loud. "Wow, that is pretty neat looking!"

Without bothering to ask, he plucked it from his friend's grasp and examined it more closely. It was in fairly good condition, not rotting and moldy like everything else here. Actually, it was perfect! "Hey Mathias! Let me use this for a bit."

[MATHIAS ANDERSEN]

"Oh good, you found a way insi-- Mathias!! Are you alright?"

Mathias heard the words escape from Antonio’s mouth a few moments too late. He had already moved onto the next subject. The subject of the cane in his hands… the object that was now completely missing from his grip. Antonio was one quick mover.

"Hey Mathias! Let me use this for a bit."

Not fair! Mathias had been planning on giving Antonio the stupid cane anyway! He didn’t even have a chance to pretend to be a werewolf or a vampire with it! Or to use his perfect Romanian accent to showoff what a good vampire he could be! Well he guessed he could always take the cane back later and impersonate the vampire. For now he would just let his friend feel like the cool older gentlemen with a limp in his walk. Yeah. Yeah, that was cool too.

“Alright, you can use it since you are the one with the broken ankle or something…” Okay, so what if he was pouting!? It wasn’t like he could take the cane away from the cripple! Even more so if the thief was his best friend! He was just gonna deal with it being gone…

Antonio wasn’t that crippled!!

Mathias decided to pluck the object right back out of his friend’s hands and just to be sure that Antonio wouldn’t try to take it back, he took off into a deeper spot into the house. He wasn’t planning on going too far. Just far enough so that he could take a close enough look at the thing and surprise Antonio with his super awesome imitation of a Transylvanian vampire… or werewolf. It was werewolves that carried these things wasn’t it?

Whatever he was still going to—A loud creaking cut off his thoughts, and the Dane looked up in confusion as the ground below his feet almost seemed to give away right before his very eyes. After letting out a girlish squeal, Mathias froze up, all the while entertaining the idea that it was stuff like this that made entering this place prohibited by students.

To his confusion though, Mathias never managed to hit the ground. A bit too nervous to glance up or down, the Dane eventually opened his eyes to see that he had fallen through the ground floor of the mansion and into a rather soggy basement. But before the Dane even had a chance to look down, and realize that he had been floating in midair, he landed on his butt with a thud.

He let out a small moan as he stood up, and rubbing his bottom, he brought his gaze to the hole he had fallen through. What had even just happened? He knew that he hadn’t activated his powers, he would’ve felt it. That and he could control his powers. He was way past the stage of his magnetic powers going berserk when he was scared or angry. So what could it… have…

“Antonioooooooo! Antonio I think someone is down here with me!” Mathias jumped into the air, waving the cane around, his eyes narrowed. He knew by ‘someone’, he actually meant ghosts, but he wasn’t going to actually say that out loud. He didn’t even believe in ghosts anyway!

Not only was it really dark down there, but the ground was slick and the entire room smelt of rot and decay. Neither of which were really smells that the Dane enjoyed. Mathias could only imagine that this room flooded quite often. Biting his lip, he waited to see the outline of his friend on the ground above, but so far, there was nothing.

“Antonio I wasn’t going to tak—” As he was saying that, an unnamed object went sailing past his head, and his eyes widened, as he looked around frantically trying to find the source of the throwing. But of course, he saw nothing.

“I don’t want to die down here! Not like this!”

[ANTONIO FERNANDEZ CARRIEDO]

Even though Mathias said he could use it, Antonio quickly found the cane snatched from his hands. To be honest, he hadn't really liked the aura that it gave off, it felt almost sinister...but ruuuude! He stuck his tongue out at the Dane's back as he ran away. Whatever, it's not like he really needed something to help him walk anyway, it would probably just be a burden in this uneven terrain. No he wasn't sulking, he really didn't care!

A couple of paintings hung on the nearby wall that instantly caught his attention. They were a bit dusty and peeling, but unmistakably portraits. Perhaps these people lived here? The faces looked a bit strange, almost as if the eyes were staring right at him. He stepped to the side--just to be sure he wasn't seeing things--but this time, the eyes remained where they were. Funny, he could have sworn they were looking right at him earlier. Maybe if he took it off the wall, he would be able to see it better.

Just as he was reaching out to remove it, fingers gripped his shoulder and he frowned. "Mathias, stop it for a second. I think something is weird with this painti--" He was cut off by the sound of splintering wood and ...was that Mathias? But wasn't he right behind him? Antonio quickly turned his head, but no one was behind him. In fact, he couldn't see his friend around anywhere.

"Mathias?" He called out into the dimness, to no reply. "Mathias?! Where are you?"

A prickling sensation on the back of his neck compelled him to glance back at the portrait one more time before looking for his friend. The eyes were staring at him now. They had been looking straight ahead before but now they were focused right on him. He stared back in shock, only tearing his eyes away when he heard Mathias calling his name.

"Antonioooooooo! Antonio I think someone is down here with me!"

Antonio took a few steps backwards to ensure that nothing in the portrait could jump out and grab him before he ran off in search of his friend, ignoring the pain in his ankle. "Mathias?! Where did you go?"

"I don't want to die down here! Not like this!"

Chewing on his bottom lip, the Spaniard glanced around frantically, trying to find out where his friend could have possibly gone. It didn't take long before he came across the gaping hole in the floor that the Dane created. Kneeling down to peer through it, he called out again, hopefully to some reply. "Mathias? Are you down here?"

Just as he said that, a shock of blonde hair made itself known amongst the dimness. Sighing in relief, Antonio leaned forward to talk to him better. "Hey, are you really that heavy? Maybe you should lay off the snacks if you're going to break through floors." he chuckled softly at his joke and started to lean back, "I'm going to see if I can find a way to get dow--...AH!" Something slammed hard into him from behind, causing him to tip forward unsteadily. The sudden shift in weight made the already broken boards underneath him groan and bend just enough to send him through the hole.

[MATHIAS ANDERSEN]

"Mathias? Are you down here?"

The Dane glanced up in relief at the sound of his best friend's voice. He knew he was probably being a bit melodramatic saying that he didn't want to die, but that was beside the point. There was something down here with him. And whether it was a ghost or---

"Hey, are you really that heavy? Maybe you should lay off the snacks if you're going to break through floors."

Mathias felt a frown form on his face at his friend's weight joke. Wow what a jerk!

"I'm going to see if I can find a way to get dow--...AH!"

Mathias noticed Antonio's silhouette falter slightly, before he too came tumbling downwards. A loud gasp pushed through Mathias' lips as he shoved himself forward, his arms held out in front of his body, allowing Antonio to tumble stiffly into his grip. The Dane let out a grunt, gritting his teeth because well, Antonio may have been fairly short, but he wasn't really light and Mathias had just set him down a few moments ago, so his arms were still somewhat sore.

"Oh I guess you found a way down then, hunh?" Mathias chuckled slightly, "Are you okay buddy? Or did your pudgy butt break through the floor too--"

A lamp shattering on the mildewy wall in front of him reminded him that they weren't the only ones down here... And also that Antonio falling from the sky was distracting him from the attack ghosts that were causing mischief with the intent of freaking him out.

Mathias tightened his grip on Antonio and bit his lip. The easiest solution to getting out of this mess would've been to fly through the hole. He groaned at the prospect of having to fly. Oh how he hated flying. It would've been quick he knew that. He knew it. But he had already had his fair share of falling for the day and he wasn’t exactly certain if he wanted to add onto that…Especially if it meant that he would be dropping Antonio as well.

But he still couldn't move. It was like something was keeping him from doing so. He wasn't sure if it was the prospect of there being ghosts down there with them, or if he was afraid of having his feet off the ground, but the longer he stood there with Antonio in his arms, staring up at the hole, the more anxious he got. The more nervous he got, the less likely he was to do it. That was just how it worked. Or rather, how he was used to it working. The times he had been able to conquer his fear were the times he literally had to stop himself from thinking and just act.

Hm.

Mathias once again found himself somewhat distracted from the reality of the situation as a dusty old book slammed into his butt. A swath of dust flew up into his nose and he let out a rather mighty sneeze.

…Right onto Antonio.

“Shoot sorry.” Mathias sniffled and with an uneasy laugh he set the Spaniard down and brushed him off. Eventually he bent over, picked the book up, and tossed it in the direction it was hurled from. Maybe that wasn’t the best of ideas, but if something did happen, he’d just have to make a move, right? Lift Antonio up and just fly right on out of there. He could do it.

If worse came to worse, yeah.