Chapter Text
"So who is this guy?" Kelly asked, taking off his shirt as he was getting ready for a shower after shift. "He's a friend, Kelly. I said that already." Shay replied, fixing something on the stove for dinner. "His name's Matt, he's twenty-two, works in a library, lives in a crappy apartment 'cause that's all he can afford." She continued. "What's a twenty-two year old kid doing living on his own? He's barely an adult." The twenty-nine year old lieutenant asked. "His home situation was a bad deal - mom shot his dad right in front of him, got thrown in jail. No one else in his family wants to take him in. Apparently they're too good to deal with an adult with autism." She answered, shaking her head at the last sentence - it annoyed her, the way people treated her friend. He was the sweetest person ever, yet he was all alone in the world, if not for her.
"Autism? He's autistic?" Kelly inquired, but with no sign of repulsion or disapproval in his tone. In Severide's mind, people were people, regardless of any issues or disabilities they may carry on their shoulders. "Yeah." Shay answered, taking a pan off its burner once their dinner she had prepared was ready. "You better hurry up with your shower - food's going to get cold."
Kelly entered Molly's with Otis and Cruz behind him. The place was relatively full, but he knew it'd get fuller as the night progressed. He spotted Shay sitting beside a young-looking blonde man. It must be the kid, Matt, that she said she'd bring with her to the bar. He smiled as he saw the kid staring down at his glass of what looked like pop - coke or pepsi, perhaps. He was patting his ears occasionally, seemingly in his own world even though Shay was right next to him, and the fact that he was in a bar full of people.
He approached the two, patting Leslie's shoulder, "Hey Shay." She looked up, smiling, "Hey! Kelly, this is Matt Casey - Matt, this is Kelly Severide." She said, grabbing Matt's attention. He didn't make eye contact with Kelly, but he muttered a "hello Kelly" whilst still patting his ears. "Hey Matt. How's it going?" Severide replied, taking a seat beside the blonde-haired man. "Fine." Matt answered, still not looking at the squad lieutenant. Kelly watched with interest as Matt held his hands over his ears now instead of doing the patting-thing he had been exercising earlier.
"Hey bud, is it too loud in here?" Shay asked. "Here, want this?" She continued, pulling a fidget-toy from her purse. "I brought it with me for you. You left it behind at the library; your boss called to let me know." The toy was a blue-and-red rubber squishy-thing that for some reason, made the blonde male's eyes shine once Shay placed it near him. He immediately grabbed for it, fidgeting with it in his fingers.
The sight made Severide smile for some reason - the kid just looked so happy with something so miniscule, in Severide's mind. Little did he know the fundamental impact that the stim-toy had on Matt, when he was in discomfort or a stressful situation. It was so … pure. And Shay caught that all-too-familiar Severide-smile, and smiled to herself knowingly. Kelly had a crush.
Once Matt had gotten used to the loud voices and music surrounding him, he began engaging in conversation with Kelly and Shay - although eye-contact still remained a struggle. Kelly didn't mind, though. He almost didn't notice, actually. He was too focused on the way Matt's voice was so soft, silky, and comforting.
"So, what's your job in the library? What department are you in charge of?" Severide asked Matt, sipping on the bottle of beer he had asked for from Herrmann. Matt was still fidgeting with the toy when he answered, "I stock the shelves when books come back from being borrowed, I make sure everything's always in the correct place, and I help people find books when they need it."
"Sounds good. You like to read, Matt..?" Kelly asked, all-around intrigued by the blonde boy, and wanting to know more about him. Matt nodded, "Yeah. I read a lot." He answered. "Matt's a super-reader," Shay piped up. "He can go through an entire series in a week. He'd stay up five nights in a row if he really liked the story." Kelly grinned, "Wow, really? That's impressive. Favorite series..?" He asked, polishing off the last drop of beer in the bottle. "Percy Jackson." Matt answered almost instantaneously, nearly cutting Kelly's question off.
The man smiled fondly, "Yeah? Never read it. Although, I was never one for books. Or reading in general. You can probably imagine how well I did in school." He said, chuckling to himself. Matt looked confused, "I can't, sorry. How did you do in school?" Kelly furrowed his brows, "Oh it was a joke - I did shit in school."
Kelly thought perhaps Matt was joking, that he did know what Kelly said had been a joke. But Matt's face still remained confused, a crease forming in the middle of his forehead. "Oh." He replied. "I'm sorry."
"No need for apologies, bud." Shay said, quick to step in, throwing a quick glance at Severide. "Want another diet-coke? Or you want to start heading out?" She asked, smiling warmly at her blonde-haired friend. "No." He replied. "Let's go." His answers were abrupt, and to most, would've seemed rude. But Shay wasn't most people. Shay understood Matt, and never took offense when he was quick in his replies.
"You want to come back to mine and Shay's?" Kelly asked quickly. He couldn't help it, he didn't want the night to end yet. He wanted to spend a little more time with the blonde man. For the first time in the evening, Matt met Kelly's eyes, and he nodded, "Yeah. Okay." And, oh God, Kelly’s heart may as well have just melted right then and there, because Matthew Casey’s perfect-blue eyes were going to be the death of him. “You want to ride with me, or Shay?” Kelly asked, already pulling the keys from his pocket as the three adults made their way towards Molly’s exit. Severide felt that the question was no big deal, and yeah, maybe it wasn’t to most people, but Leslie could practically see the gears turning in Casey’s head as he tried to work out what the ‘correct’ answer could be.
See, Matt worried and stressed a lot about what the ‘right’ decision was, when being asked questions like the one Kelly just asked him. Always afraid of hurting someone’s feelings, or saying something socially-unacceptable, he’d think for what felt like an eternity to the person asking the ‘simple’ question. His right hand came up slightly, to where his chest was, and he flicked it vigorously a few times - a way to burn off the uncomfortable tingly-feeling that was the excess energy build-up. Kelly was puzzled; what was he doing? Why was he taking such a long time to answer?
But Shay came to the rescue; “Hey, why don’t you ride with me? I hate driving in the dark - you could be my moral support.” She said, smiling at the conflicted blonde boy. He looked up, his eyes seeming to be asking, ‘should I?’ because he really really didn’t want to offend or hurt anyone’s feelings - ‘anyone’ being Severide. Shay’s only answer was another smile, this one more-so reassuring than anything. So Matt nodded, still flicking his right hand, and gave a small wave -with his left hand- to Kelly and, still struggling with meeting the new man’s gaze, he said, “See you in a bit.”
With that, he was off, walking towards Shay’s car without looking back to see if the paramedic was following him. She glanced at Kelly, “Don’t drive too fast.” To that, he scoffed, “Never.” The two friends shared a look, and Kelly chuckled - ‘yeah right.’ They both thought.
The short drive home was quiet, as Kelly’s mind reeled. Matt was so intriguing - and not because of his quirks due to being autistic, but because the lieutenant was genuinely interested in him. His smile could light up a room, and oh, the crinkles that formed by his eyes when he grinned or laughed. Kelly found himself smiling at the thought, his heartbeat quickening. “You’re whipped.” He whispered to himself - but fuck if he cared.
“Matt, want a drink?” Kelly asked, when the three were back in Shay’s and his shared apartment, standing by the opened fridge. “Water.” The blonde replied, adding a “please” when he realized his response was a bit too curt, and ‘please’ was just something you say when someone offers you something, according to Shay.
The blonde paramedic was the one who was more of a mom than anything to the twenty-two year old. Matt’s parents had treated his autism awfully. They never bothered to teach him correct tactics, they only screamed at him when he did something ‘wrong’ or said something a bit too straight-forward that it came off as rude or offensive.
“Water?” Kelly asked. “I got beer and a bottle of Jack.”
“Water.” Matt repeated. “I hate Jack, and beer might as well be the same as pissing in a bottle and putting it in the fridge to drink for later.”
Shay nearly spit out the cracker she was munching on, standing by the kitchen cupboards. Kelly expected to see a smile on Matt’s face -because he was making a joke, right?- but the blonde’s expression was serious, his voice monotone. When he saw the expression of surprise on Kelly’s face as his rather-inappropriate choice of words, and the stifled-giggle practically dangling off of Shay’s lips, he knew he fucked up.
He dropped Severide’s gaze, cheeks turning red. “I’m sorry.” He said. “Um, I don’t like beer, I’ll just have water … please.”
And, again, Severide was confused. Because, while the choice of words weren’t something that should’ve been said in this certain time and place, and also considering he and the blonde just met, he did find Matt’s phrase rather amusing. He chuckled, “Don’t apologize; I thought it was funny. Although, I would imagine piss wouldn’t be able to get you drunk.” At that, Matt felt encouraged; Kelly wasn’t appalled by his crude choice of language -because, let’s be honest, Lieutenant Severide wasn’t exactly all prim-and-proper, either- nor did he make the kid feel bad about what he had said. And, Kelly probably didn’t even know what his dismissal of a ‘joke’ had meant to Matt - because not everyone had always made the blonde feel as comfortable as Kelly was making him feel in that moment.
Shay smiled, knowing what was going through Matt’s mind. She nibbled on another cracker, pouring a glass of water for her friend once she took the water-pitcher from Kelly’s hands.
Their time together was fun; they spent the evening playing a game of poker, eating snacks, engaging in the occasional chatter -with Matt meeting Kelly’s gaze, with those pretty-blue eyes that were totally knocking down Kelly’s confident character, causing the silver-haired man to blush- and then before they knew it, it was Midnight. But Kelly was feeling sad, because as much as he was tired, he didn’t want Matt to go.
Shay was putting on her coat, handing Matt his own, because she had to drive him back to his place. Kelly watched as Matt carefully double-knotted his laces, zipping his coat up to his chin, and stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Good night, Kelly. Thank you for having me.” He said, shuffling his feet, eyes trained to the hardwood floor - Shay read his body-language, he was getting tired. He wanted to go now. “It was nothing, it was nice meeting you.” Severide replied, smiling warmly, even though Casey wasn’t looking.
“Don’t wait up.” Shay told her room-mate, before taking Matt’s arm, ready to bring him to her car to drop him off at his home. “Yeah, I won’t- Hey, wait Matt. Uh -” He shuffled around, trying to find his phone. He tugged it out of his back-pocket, unlocking it, and handing it out to the blonde. “I’d.. like to call you sometime. Can I have your number..?”
Shay could have let out a squeal at that, nearly ‘awww-ing’ at Matt’s blush that crept onto his face. Kelly glared at her as if to say ‘shut up’ before his eyes returned to Matt, who was staring at Kelly’s unlocked phone.
“Um, yeah, sure -” Casey replied, taking it, punching in his mobile number. “There you go..” He said, handing the cell phone back to Severide. Kelly smiled wide, “Thanks. Good night, Matt. Drive safe, Shay.” The paramedic nodded -her shit-eating smile still plastered on her face- before heading out the door with Matt leading the way. When the door closed, Kelly may have done a little leap in the air as he made his way to his bedroom - but he’ll never admit it to anyone.
CHAPTER ONE: Eyes