matthew-alexander

[matthew-alexander]

. . . Matthew for the Midsummer Night's Dream Event . . .

[matthew-alexander]

Matthew was no stranger to the clubbing scene in Vievecor City and especially not the vampire-run establishments which was where he found himself that evening. The fallen deity had a predilection for vampires, as some would know, and it had been awhile since he ventured out to find someone he could distract himself with.

He was standing outside the club with a cigarette between his long fingers when he heard a crash and a yelp. And when he looked up to see what happened, Matthew found himself looking at a familiar face. One who was currently covered in blood wine. Not the best thing to be covered in at the Rubicund seeing as it was crawling with humans. The fallen deity glanced upwards to try to determine where the bottle came from, but there the culprit was nowhere to be seen, which prompted him to follow Chris soon after.

"That looks nasty," Matthew voiced out from where the shadows had coalesced around him in the hallway.

@vievecorcitystarters location: the Rubicund

Chris had been going through his normal routine of lingering around the edge of the crowds in the rubicund to see if anyone he regularly fed from would show up or if there was anyone else who would work. Without noticing, he'd ended up under the edge of one of the balconies, which normally would be just fine, but tonight he faintly heard a yell before something crashed down on his head.

It didn't hurt as much as it was a shock, and Chris froze for a moment before he had to blink liquid out of his eyes. He looked down and saw chunks of a glass decanter at his feet and was able to smell what it held when he swiped sodden hair out of his face. Blood wine, but he was pretty sure that he was starting to bleed because the stupid glass cut him.

He tried to look up and glare, but it was undermined by a flinch when the movement gave him a twinge of pain. He ran a hand gingerly over his scalp to confirm that yes, there were definitely some pieces of glass stuck in his head. "God fucking dammit."

One of the bouncers grimaced in sympathy as Chris made his way out to the quieter hallway and walked up to the dark window to use it as a mirror. There was a gash near his temple that was slowly starting to heal, and a visible shard a couple inches from his hairline that was the source of the blood dripping into his eye. That one he was able to pull out with himself, but the rest were on the back of his head where he couldn't see.

[matthew-alexander]

"Well, yes, clearly," Matthew replied, his cheeks heating up when Elio accepted them so gracefully. He spent the last night making these chocolate covered strawberries himself, sparing no expense when it came to the quality of the ingredients because he only gave these to a select few people -- those he had crushes on -- not that he would ever admit it out loud.

"It's fine. You don't need to gift me anything," he added as he returned Elio's smile with a bashful one of his own. Matthew Alexander was not supposed to get bashful. Ever. "You passing your exams and graduating was gift enough for me."

Elio grinned sheepishly and nodded in agreement, knowing it wouldn’t help to explain why he had missed the problem despite Matthew’s diligence in helping him mastering the topic prior. He had kept quiet and focused for the remainder of the session, avoiding getting off topic since it meant even less time to scarf down some semblance of lunch for both of them.

When they finally finished, he was taken back by Matthew’s surprise gift, thinking it was a bit surprising to get such a thing from his tutor on valentines— and that if anything, he was who owed Matthew a thank you gift. The strawberries were most certainly hand made versus store bought based on appearance alone, but Elio didn’t think negatively of it. Instead of thought of how valuable his own spare time was, and how thoughtful it was for Matthew to take time to make such a gift for another.

“These are for me? Shouldn’t I be the one gifting *you* something for putting up with me all year?” Elio smiled as he joked, adding, “This is really thoughtful. Thank you, Matt.”

[matthew-alexander]

Roan was not outright denying any involvement in how the bracelet got to where it did and that was setting off an alarm in Matthew's head. This bracelet was not the first piece of evidence that liked supernaturals to Artemis, but it was the first one Matthew could trace to a source.

"Do you mean to tell me that you do not know how it fell into this person's hands?Unless you think that Artemis and her followers are people you think need protection. From us." the fallen deity asked again, his anger increasing with each second that ticked by. "A simple yes or no will suffice. "

"To people I thought needed it," Roan said calmly, "To witches and humans who have been sworn into the supernatural community." He could feel the edge in Matt's voice, the unspoken 'tell me or else'. But he couldn't compromise the people he had set out to protect. He couldn't risk sending a demon's wrath after them.

"Artemis?" The name left his lips with a low groan as he slowly shook his head. "It is common practice in the coven, Matthew, we use protective bracelets all the time. But if this fell into the wrong hands..." his eyes fell unwillingly on the claws of darkness around him, "I would try to make things right." He sighed and looked back at Matt, trying to ignore the pulsing darkness around him. "Tell me they didn't kill anyone. Tell me there's something I can do to repair the damage."

[matthew-alexander]

A never-ending nightmare curse was simple and torturous enough to most humans. It was a dark magic spell that would eventually deprive one of restful sleep and as the nightmares escalated in intensity, even actual sleep itself. Matthew's eyes flicked to the human the moment Will let his unconscious form slump back to the ground before lifting a hand, his finger pointing at the human's head to send a shadowy tendril worming its way into the man's ear and into his mind.

"Let's see how long it takes this one to check himself into the sanitorium," the fallen deity sneered once the curse was in place. He lowered his hand and looked back up at Will. "Is that truly how you feel about these humans?" Matthew asked curiously because he knew that the Lycaon pack's leader's stance on such a matter would be the exact opposite and here Will was demanding the death of humans.

"It's one less of them!" He knew that he sounded more like a petulant child unable to get his way than an adult of sound mind. Anything dealing with Artemis would be a boon to William's need for revenge. He knew that Matthew was right. He knew that he should let the punk go, but how long was it before someone who tagged a building could be turned into one of the extremists who hurt his loved ones.

He growled, eyes narrowing as he let go of the human's collar. He loathed logic- especially at times like this. Whatever punishment Matt ended up deeming correct was far less than the human deserved. If Will had been but a moment sooner, he might be dealing with the punishment of scrubbing blood from the walls. "They all deserve death. They wouldn't hesitate to kill us whether we were in their nests or our homes."

[matthew-alexander]

"Is the Shard alright?" Matthew asked. He used to spend a good amount of time in that building back when Izak was still in Vievecor City, but less so now that the vampire had gone. "And I take it that Ulusoy and Atwood are well too?" he added as he unclenched his hands from the fists they balled themselves into.

"Could you stay until all of this dies down? I don't..." Matthew hesitated for a moment, not liking that he had to admit this out loud. "I don't trust anyone else right now..." And he did not want to have to deal with this alone.

"I'm not saying right now," he replied, his tone softer this time. At some point, he would need to rest. Knowing Matthew, he wouldn't take care of himself so Judas would make him.

"I managed to miss most of it. I was with Naz and Eliott when the attacks started and had just been on my way to the Shard when I got your message." The Shard was safe under Teddy's watch, and would have wanted to be here for the Hereafter instead, even if there wasn't much he could do at this point.

[matthew-alexander]

"I am," Matthew smirked. There was little point in lying when his glee was clear on his face.

Something stupid? Now that got Matthew's attention, his proverbial ears perking up. What could possibly have gotten Elena so worked up? "Like I said. He will be here eventually. You could use this as an opportunity to teach yourself some patience. It might prevent you from doing something stupid. What sort of stupid would you get up to anyway?"

She felt like an ant trapped under Matthew's gaze, struggling against the enormity of his indifference—his glee. He was quite possibly the last person Elio would appreciate her picking a fight with but—"You're getting off on this, aren't you?"

It wasn't a question. Not really. Allowing her powers to flow freely, Elena could read him like a book. Perhaps she wasn't strong enough to influence the demon's emotions, but if he decided to be a fucking prick, he didn't deserve her consideration either.

"I'm not well. I need to talk to Elio before I do something stupid." And self-destructive. As the words left her mouth, the bottles of expensive wine jittered promisingly behind Matthew. There would be a sort of poetic justice to it. After all he'd been the one to introduce her to this little trick when he had blown up the mug of hot chocolate in her hand. "I won't ask again. Please. I'll owe you."

[matthew-alexander]

END!

Despite feeling that his mood had gone sour from Matt's insisting on pushing for dark magic, Roan managed a smile. "I think it's best that way. And you can leave the white magic to me, I've got it covered," he winked. "No, that was all for now, but I'll let you know when I have something new for you to break."

[matthew-alexander]

Matthew almost sputtered at the surprisingly casual compliment and he ended up clearing his throat instead. "Thank you, but I know where my flaws lie," he said in a hasty attempt to downplay Elio's words.

He watched as the other third year answer the question right in front of him. So Elio was paying attention because he solved it pretty quickly. "Careless of you to skip an entire question even if you got it right. Make sure this doesn't happen during actual examinations." Matthew knew that he was nagging, but it was what got results.

They spent the rest of their last tutoring session of the year finishing up the rest of the paper and when they finished the last question, Matthew finally decided to pull out the bag of chocolate-covered strawberries he prepared for Elio. "Here. This is for you. For being a good enough student this past year. Happy Valentine's."

“Hm?” Elio quirked an eyebrow, asking, “Watching your figure?” Matthew looked paper thin to him. And from what he knew of Luke’s new step sibling, they didn’t do any athletics either. The idea of needing to watch what one ate as a teenage boy felt almost foreign to Elio, was it not for his own strict diet in the day or two leading up to a swim meet. “I can’t imagine a few sweets would ruin things— you look great,” he added with an innocent yet encouraging smile. Matthew was cute— and the fact he was single genuinely surprised Elio. He made a mental note to ask Luke about him later, curious, but not enough to be overly nosey in that moment.

The senior refocused his attention, looking at the problem Matthew was pointing too. “Uh….” He glanced over it as well as his rushed work, trying to complete it moments before it was due which had led to numerous obvious mistakes. He had passed out at home and forgotten to do it, but genuinely had understood after Matthew’s recent tutoring. “Here,” he mumbled, grabbing a pencil and correcting the work himself.

[matthew-alexander]

"Given them out for protection? To who?" Matthew demanded to know and shook his phone for emphasis. The information Roan was asking for was not for anyone outside of the elders to know, but Matthew had to chance it for Roan's sake.

"It was found on one of Artemis' followers," the fallen deity hissed and shoved his phone back into his pocket, the tendrils of shadows around them both were now looming menacingly over the witch. "It clearly belongs to you. I would recognise those beads anywhere... Tell me you did not know how it changed hands to get to who it did, Roan..."

Roan knew how much The Hereafter meant to Matthew, and he also knew the other to be one who reigned in his emotions, so he took the demon's coldness as grief. "Of course," he replied softly, feeling that was as much condolence as Matthew would accept.

"I'd like to know that too," Roan said slowly. The matter that his friend had brought to him was so unexpected that the witch had dumbly stared at the photograph for a minute. It was unmistakably one of Roan's bracelets, the kind that Matt had tested his powers on, and since Matt had come to him there was no use in denying that it was. The question was, and this made Roan's skin crawl as if it was being eaten by maggots, where this bracelet had been found and what had been done to its bearer.

"It's one of my bracelets," he added and swallowed, looking up at Matt, painfully aware of the shadows come to life in his apartment. "I've given a few out for protection in light of the unrest in the city. Who- where was this found?"

[matthew-alexander]

Matthew looked at what Will was referring to with how the human had tagged the Hereafter and he silently resolved to curse him with nightmares for the foreseeable future.

"And killing a human here is doing something for your pack?" the fallen deity asked with a tilt of his head, curious as to what Caleb Lycaon would think on this matter.

"Because the Hereafter does not need to be sullied with this human's blood on its walls. If you want to kill him, take him away from here and do the deed far away from my building. Your home... Otherwise, you let him go and let me deal with him."

"He was standing here admiring his handywork." William gestured to the building and the markings. How could his landlord simply allow this filth to get away with what they had done. He'd heard rumors of the depravity that Matt indulged in, but now he was starting to think that perhaps it was nothing more than idle gossip.

He growled, tightening his hold around his victim's neck. "Caleb's gone soft. Half the pack is leaving, and the other half is hurting something awful. He might be my alpha, but I will do what needs to be done for the pack." It was treason. If word got back to Caleb about Will's actions, there would be good reason to punish him or oust him from the pack. Yet in this moment Will couldn't care. He didn't give a shit what the man who turned his back on his second thought. Caleb's inactions indirectly lead to Gwen in the hospital. It was too much to handle. "Give me one reason why he doesn't deserve death?"

[matthew-alexander]

"I'm staying right here," Matthew insisted perhaps a little too strongly. There was no way he was leaving the Hereafter tonight, not when it was still licking with flames. He had to take a few calming breaths to get a hold of himself before lifting his eyes to Judas' again.

"Silly me. I have not even asked how you are faring..." he said. "Did you get caught up in any of the violence yourself?" Matthew asked at last, silently grateful for the fact that Judas had been able to come to the Hereafter so quickly after his text. It must have meant that they had not been as affected.

As the words trailed off, Judas's eyes also went to the building. Moving out didn't change his feelings about the Hereafter, and seeing it smoldering was heart wrenching. They could hardly imagine how the owner felt. After a few moments, he managed to find some words of comfort.

"You'll rebuild. Bigger, fancier." It wasn't like it was permanently destroyed. Sure, there was some significant damage, but who in the community wasn't just as damaged these days? "Do you have somewhere to go?" He hoped he wasn't planning to stay and stare at the building all night.

[matthew-alexander]

"No, actually. I cannot," Matthew replied, trying to keep himself as impassive as possible. He was as angry was Will in that moment, but there were more important matters to attend to right now that attacking any human who came across them.

"Do you intend to kill him, Mister Rogers? I didn't think you'd be the sort of person to do so given the pack you belong to," the fallen deity hummed and stepped closer, blue eyes moving to look at the human who looked utterly terrified and he prepared a spell to pull Will away from them should it come to that. "But by all means, prove me wrong."

His fur babies resided safely in his car. The smoke polluted the air of his home. He didn't know how his apartment faired in the blaze. Everything he owned save for a few belongings thrown carelessly in the backseat of his car resided in the charred building. The firefighters did an impressive job taming the blaze, but there was damage. He trusted Matthew and Judas would take care of the structural damage, but the lives that had been impacted would never be the same be it from a sense of safety in their own home or the more physical issues of escaping the building or the memories ruined by a single moment. Artemis deserved to pay for it.

He refused to look at his landlord, eyes boring into the human within his grasp. "He is one of them. Can't you tell?" William couldn't be sure if his words were truth or merely hopeful on his end. He needed someone to pay for the misdeeds. He needed someone to know the pain that he was feeling given what had been done to those closest to him.

[matthew-alexander]

Tch! How annoying. Matthew's face darkened for a moment at Teddy's very obvious barb. And here Matthew thought that he was just making conversation, but that was clearly not the case.

"Oh? Good to know. I'm certain that any human Luke set his eyes on wouldn't be completely useless," the fallen deity returned, deliberately ignoring the vampire's clear disdain. "Well, he's fine right now, isn't he? He hardly needed any of my intervening. After all, he can take care of himself, can't he?"

"Yeah," Teddy drawled out before his eyes narrowed, "He's great. Makes me happy. You know what that feels like, don't you? -or well, used to, anyway." It was not something the vampire was particularly proud of, to tug at a sensitive topic, but he didn't appreciate Matthew's tone. And the, of course, was ..what the hell was that? "Gabriel is talking to some people and he can take care of himself. I'm his boyfriend, not his guardian. That part is Luke's job who, by the way, I hear asked you to look after him whilst he was gone? Good job on that."

[matthew-alexander]

"Good," Matthew huffed, cheeks flushing again and almost immediately after he had gotten them to calm down. And all because Elio was showing his appreciation. He really needed to get a handle on his more frivolous emotions...

Matthew eyed the branded chocolates that Elio set down on the table, his mind going to the packed bag of homemade chocolate covered strawberrries sitting in his bag for Elio and he blanched. They were most definitely not going to compare to these ones. "I'm alright. I'm watching my figure. You can still do that too," he tutted as if he were jealous of the chocolates and proceeded to tap his pencil on one of the questions Elio had left blank in his homework sheet. "What didn't you understand about this one?"

“They did,” Elio agreed, slipping into the seat beside Matthew. “And fair enough, I just didn’t want to monopolize your time more than you were comfortable with. I do appreciate your help,” Elio reassured with a grin. He reached into his bag, pulling out the gift he’d received from Caia, gleefully adding, “Want some? A friend on swim gave them to me and now that this week’s meet is over I can finally eat junk again.”

[matthew-alexander]

"Not when it comes to you, little deity," Matthew sneered, enjoying how he could annoy her so easily. He did not owe any of the deities good manners, especially one as young and rude as Elena.

"What could possibly be so urgent anyway?" he scoffed, noting her distress and revelling in it. "What sort of trouble do little deities such as yourself get into that you'd need Daddy Elio to help? He'll be here eventually. He never misses a shift."

Elena took a breath, trying to keep her voice steady, but the sharpness in her words betrayed the frustration she was barely keeping under control. "I don’t owe you an explanation," she bit out, voice low but edged with heat. "Can you just not be so fucking difficult for once in your life?"

Like hell was she going to tell Matthew of all people that she felt like getting up close and personal with Vivecor's drug scene because she'd had a fight with her—What?—boyfriend..? Lover..? Significant other..? Ex..? Had they ever even been anything to each other?

"Please," she nearly whispered, voice cracking under the weight of it. "I need to talk to Elio. It’s urgent."

[matthew-alexander]

END!

"Hey! Be nice, I was injured." It wasn't that serious in the end because everyone else had been there to pull him out of the water, and he'd just had a small scrape over a bruise on his head, but the wound in his pride hurt more. "I got the one from you and from Viv, then a couple from teammates that were like friend valentines."

He grinned at Matthew's blush and nudged him. Chris had overheard some of the girls talking about giving him valentines but hadn't discouraged them. Heartbreak was supposed to be part of life, right? "I'm not like you mister mysterious aloof class president." They were stopped waiting at the station so he turned to Matthew to give him his best simpering puppy dog eyes.

Matthew

"An injury that I'm sure you could have prevented," Matthew scoffed lightly, but there was no bite behind his words. He had already given Chris an earful back when it first happened.

"I'm not mysterious. I'm the least mysterious person in school," the third year grumbled and shot Chris a look of exasperation. "You know that. I just don't have the time for things like... relationships. School is hardly the place for any of us to be messing about like that when we have our futures to worry about." The look on Chris' face made Matthew groan though. He knew exactly how to push his buttons and look adorable while doing so. "Stop looking at me like that!"

Chris

Chris couldn't help laughing at Matthew's embarrassment because he was actually kind of cute when he was flustered. "I don't know, I think there's some time for other stuff." Then again, Chris wasn't as sure what he was going to do as Matthew was, or quite as determined to stay at the top of the class. He admired it, but at the same times it seemed like Matthew didn't give himself time for much else. "Aren't there some people in your class who are dating but still doing ok?"

Matthew

"Is there?" Matthew shot Chris a disbelieving look. Studying and keeping up with his extracurriculars took more than enough time already, even if Matthew did sorely want to be able to take a breather from it all. It was something he could not do though, not at the risk of disappointing his father.

"I don't keep up with that sort of class gossip. Why? Are you interested in someone? Are you planning to start dating?" he asked, lips turning downwards in a slight pout at the thought of losing Chris to someone else. The small crush Matthew had on his long time friend was not helping.

Chris

"I guess so." Chris looked away, fiddling with one of the straps on his backpack to give him something to do with his hands, so he missed Matthew's small frown. This felt like the wrong place to just up and confess that he'd developed a crush on Matthew after the two of them had spent time together while their parents were busy. It was the reason why he'd felt a spark of jealousy when Matthew mentioned getting multiple other valentines. "I'll tell you when we get home. It feels kinda weird to talk about it out in the open here." He held out a hand to shake. "Deal?"

Matthew

Matthew was watching the way Chris suddenly became all shy as he fiddled with his backpack, which made him not want to pry despite the growing jealousy he was suddenly feeling. Who was this person Chris had a crush on?

"Yeah, sure," he said a bit stiffly because he needed to brace himself for the inevitability of having his heart crushed once he got home. Matthew looked down at the hand Chris had reached out, sighed dramatically to hide his own unease and slid his own into his friend's to shake it. "Deal. You're lucky you're my favourite."

Chris

"Aww, I am?" Well, there was a consolation prize if he ended up embarrassing himself. Matthew had known him long enough that Chris didn't think he would hold the crush against him, but it had the potential to be awkward. He relaxed a little bit and brought up some random topic about school that they chattered about on the way home. Still that calm disappeared as soon as he finished unlocking the front door.

Chris stalled enough to take off his shoes and put his backpack down before he took a breath and turned to Matthew. Better to just rip the bandaid off. "So um, it's you. I've kinda had a crush on you for a while."

Matthew

Matthew entered the Alexander home with Chris in tow, his shoes were off his feet as he stepped into the house with only his socks on when he heard Chris' words. He froze where he was standing, not quite believing what the other was saying, as his heart raced inside his chest.

"Me?" Matthew's cheeks turned a bright shade of pink as he stared at Chris. Why was Chris confessing in the entrance of his house? "Oh my god!" he grabbed Chris' wrist and practically dragged him to his bedroom so that they could have some privacy. It was only when they were inside and the door was shut so that no one could look in that Matthew could look at him again.

"That's certainly one way of going about a confession," the third year said as all he could hear was the loud beating of his heart. "W-What do you mean for awhile?" Being confessed to by someone he actually returned feelings for was vastly different to all the girls had to reject in the last couple of years.

Chris

He had what felt like half a second to process Matthew's reaction before he was yanked through the house. Well the fact that he hadn't gotten thrown out was probably a good start. "There didn't really seem to be a better way to say it." He mumbled. There absolutely was, but Chris was caught on the spot with Matthew looking at him like that in the entrance to the house.

"Like a year, maybe? We've known each other for a long time, so I mean it probably developed before that, but that was when I realized." There was a time last May when he'd gotten shy around Matthew for a while before learning how to deal with his crush, but the other hadn't seemed to notice. "I was just worried about making things weird between us."

Matthew

Matthew dropped his bag to his bedroom floor and continued to stare at Chris with a wide nervous look in eyes. His damned heart was still thudding in his chest like it wanted to escape and he could feel something trying to seize in his throat.

"A year?" Matthew was blushing and the fingers that unconsciously brushed his own cheeks could feel the heat radiating off of it. A year would have been about the time Matthew developed his own little crush on Chris too, but he had simply elected to play it cool because why would his long time friend ever return his affections? "Well, things have not been weird, have they?"

Chris

"I- yeah, it's been fine, and I was worried about ruining that, and the way you're just staring at me right now isn't inspiring confidence." Humor, great way to diffuse the tension, right? Really he just wanted to hear whether or not Matthew returned his feelings or not. If he did, that was great, even with what Matthew had said about being too busy for dating. "So, how do you feel? Or should I pretend this never happened?"

Matthew

"I..." Matthew started just as he heard a voice in his head starting to squeal. Wow, his inner voice was such an embarrassment. "I don't feel that you need to pretend this never happened," he continued as he tried to quell the over-excitement inside of himself.

"I... I like you too, Chris. Probably about the same amount of time that you have liked me... If your timeline is anything to go by." He dared to step a little closer to Chris to get up in his friend's space before tilting his head up to look the other in the eye. Matthew's mind was also racing with a variety of anxious thoughts, but he had to push them aside to focus on who was in front of him. "I like to too."

Chris

His face broke into a gigantic grin. "Really?" There was a second of relief that was replaced by excitement. Matthew liked him too, he actually did. He half stepped, half jumped closer to Matthew, grabbing his hands and trying not to shake them excitedly. After a second he decided to be bolder and slid his arms around Matthew's waist, partly so he wouldn't accidentally crush his hands. Yes he'd hugged Matthew before, but that hadn't been as 'the person who likes me back.'

"That's awesome." Well turns out being eloquent when he was this enthusiastic was not Chris's strong point. He wanted to try to kiss Matthew but wasn't sure if that was too much.

Matthew

Chris' excitement should not have been surprising, but Matthew found himself tickled by it. He was so enthusiastic and when those arms moved around his waist, Matthew could not help wrapping his own around Chris' shoulders.

"Is that all you have to say? Just awesome?" he asked with a tilt of his head and a sly smile.

Chris

"I, well..." Chris stuttered out a couple of syllables. It was hard to form coherent thoughts past the fluttering in his stomach when Matthew was smiling at him like that.. He sighed and pressed his forehead to Matthew's shoulder for a moment to gather his thoughts before coming back to look at him. "Can I kiss you?"

Matthew

Matthew was so thoroughly amused even as his cheeks were still warm from what just transpired. What did this mean for their friendship going forward? They would just have to figure it out... And when Chris pulled back to ask that question, Matthew's eyes widened.

"Oh. Yes. Of course you can..." he said just a little nervously. Matthew had never properly kissed someone else before, not when he was too busy burying his nose in books and homework all this time.

Chris

Chris smiled when Matthew said yes, though it was dimmed slightly by his own nerves suddenly crashing down on him. "Just warning you, I haven't done this before." He wanted to head off a little bit of potential embarrassment.

He untangled one of his hand from Matthew's waist and cupped his jaw before leaning forward. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips hesitantly to Matthews, trying to act like he wasn't nearly vibrating with nerves.

Matthew

"You haven't?" Matthew looked properly surprised, but the fact that Chris was just as new to this did help to quell some of his nerves. "Well, neither have I..."

They were both just as awkward as they went about their first and rather highly anticipated kiss, but for all the awkwardness, the softness of Chris' lips felt nice against his own when they did. It wasn't as intimidating after awhile and Matthew tilted his head just a little to deepen it.

Chris

He tilted his head a bit more to try to match Matthew. It was good, even though he still halfway couldn't believe it was happening, and he unconsciously tightened his arm around Matthew's waist. There were plenty of times in the past when he'd sat close to Matthew or leaned against him, but this was something entirely different from those times.

He cringed when their teeth clacked together and pulled back a little bit to take a breath, giving Matthew a sheepish smile. It gave him a small chance to try thinking through the haze in his head before giving up and leaning in to kiss Matthew again.

Matthew

"Ow!" Matthew pulled back too, his cheeks still warm as he gingerly brought his fingers up to his mouth. The way their teeth hit each other's felt weird, but his hormonal teenage mind did not want this to end. He laughed a breathy laugh when Chris leaned in and their lips were pressed together once more because it still felt nice despite that small mishap.

When they finally had to break apart for air again, Matthew's chest was heaving lightly and he slapped Chris' chest. "Not everyone has a school-team swimmer's lung capacity," he scolded but did nothing to push Chris away, enjoying the way the other's arms felt around him. "We should probably talk about this too, shouldn't we?"

Chris

Chris honest to god giggled, placing his hand over Matthew's on his chest. The weight felt nice, kind of right. "Yeah I guess we should talk about it. Or does talking about it mean overthinking it all until we both freak ourselves out?" Because he knew how serious Matthew was about school and how little time he left for anything else. So there was a chance that all of this would end horribly in heartbreak, but Chris wanted to at least try.

Matthew

"Yeah. We should definitely talk," Matthew said with a nod, his cheeks warming again as he looked up at Chris. He hated talking, especially when it came to emotions because it was not something practiced in his household, but he also knew that Chris was the opposite.

"We'll figure it out," he said as he started to fret internally. What if this was a mistake? What if this ruined their friendship? What would their families think? What would his father think? What would the school think?! "Y-Yeah... We'll figure it out."

Chris

"Figure it out? It's not a disaster, Matt." Chris gave him a small shake before rubbing Matthew's arms, trying to break him out of the spiral he was starting to go down. It was discouraging to see him already acting like everything was doomed, but Chris tried to hold onto some optimism. "We can go with it and see what happens."

He brought his hands up to cup Matthew's face so he had to make eye contact. "Don't start planning for everything to go wrong before anything even happens, ok?" Chris gave him a small smile before learning forward to kiss him again, deciding it was a lot better when Matthew didn't have a chance to talk himself out of this.