Chapter Text
"Come on Matt. It'll be great to have you at the exhibit with us. Meg and Gavin will be super disappointed that you didn't come see the sculptures that they modeled for." Lindsay pleaded with her friend. Matt ignored her and just kept staring out the window. She sighed and looked over her shoulder at her husband, Michael, who shrugged.
Lindsay turned back to Matt and quietly said "Just...Call or text me if you change your mind okay?" She was relieved when Matt nodded slightly, though he still didn't look at her. Lindsay leaned forwards and squeezed his arm gently before leaving, Michael following behind her.
Matt glanced over at the door as it closed and sighed.
"It's been years Matt..." He softly said to himself. He slowly got up out of bed and wandered over to the window and watched the Joneses drive off in their car. He said quietly "He wouldn't want you to mope around." He laughed shortly before saying "He'd probably punch you and then kiss you for being stupid."
Matt turned away from the window and went over to his bedside dresser. He hesitated before he picked up a framed photograph that had been placed face down on the dresser. He smiled sadly at the image of a much younger him standing and grinning down at a shorter guy who was laughing next to him.
"It's been really quiet around here without you, Jerem...Has been since the flood..." Matt whispered, rubbing his thumb over the image of the smaller man's face. He blinked away tears as he remembered what happened to his love...
~*~
Matt always claimed that it was chance that they met. Jeremy said it was fate that they did.
At 18 years old, Matt was interning as a computer tech at Cock Byte, a tech company that was gaining popularity for being the filming equivelant of the Geek Squad. He had been sent out on a chilly day in October to get a bunch of Pumpkin spice coffees for the team he was assigned to from the Haywood You Rather cafe.
He was such a rush he didn't notice the smaller 17 year old with an art bag walking into the cafe until they crashed into each other. Jeremy had laughed it off and paid for new coffees for Matt to take to his bosses, leaving before Matt could get his name or number. It was disappointing when the next time he went in, he didn't see him there at all.
It was a week before Matt saw him again, this time in the park. He was using watercolors to paint the trees in front of him and Matt surprised him by complimenting his work. That time Matt not only got his name and number but also his Xbox Live account name so they could game together.
They didn't have their first offical date till that summer on June 5th, a day after Jeremy's 18th birthday and a day before Matt's 19th. They went to a carnival, junk food until they were sick and watched the fireworks display. Not long after that Jeremy moved in with Matt using the excuse that it was cheaper to split the bill when really he was falling for Matt hard.
It took until the following Christmas for them to have sex for the first time. Matt had been amazed that such a loud, rough peron as Jeremy could be so quiet and gentle while fucking him. Jeremy traced his fingers in spirals and loops over Matt's sweaty skin afterwards, whispering how beautiful Matt was and how he sometimes thought that Matt was like something out of that Greek legend of an artist who loved a statue that he had made so much that the gods brought it to life for him as his lover.
Jeremy painted Matt a picture of them together for their one year anniversary present and Matt took him out on a date to Haywood You Rather, to Jeremy's great amusement. The day ended with them cuddling on their couch watching B-grade horror films and laughing their asses off at the horrid plots and graphics.
Matt started growing a beard, got glasses (He said it was because contacts cost more and it was too much of a hassle to own them but Jeremy said that he thought Matt looked better with them) and was hired full-time by Cock Byte as their in-the-field tech guy. Jeremy started working out more as well as joining a gymnastics group.
Then everything went wrong that April...
~*~
"Stop exaggerating Matt." Jeremy rolled his eyes at his love as he got dressed "I promised that I would do these commissions and I will. This is the very last one of this batch that I have to do too!" Matt frowned at him and came up behind him. He held him close mumbling "I'm not exaggerating though. The news reporter said so." Jeremy snorted "A news reporter on Fox."
Matt just held him tighter as he sighed. Jeremy turned around in Matt's arms and kissed him sweetly. Matt closed his eyes as they kissed, humming softly. Jeremy pulled back and said softly "If it makes you feel better, I won't be on the riverside, I'll be on the bridge over it, okay?" Matt pouted and mumbled "Fine..."
Jeremy grinned and kissed him again, a quick peck on the cheek this time, "There ya go! Now, I gotta get going! I'll be back around sunset okay?" Matt nodded and hugged him tightly. Jeremy quickly gathered up his art supplies and blew Matt a kiss before he headed out the door.
That was last thing Matt saw of him: Jeremy waving up at him from the sidewalk, as he walked down to the river to paint one last picture in a series of landscape paintings that a client had requested that Jeremy paint for him. The dam that normally held the river back burst open from the recent heavy rainstorms and the waters washed away everything in their path.
Including the bridge where Jeremy had gone to paint at.
Matt, who had been called out of work to help the news agency cover the event, had initially held out hope that they would find Jeremy but all they found was his waterproof art bag, full of his art supplies and a half finished painting of Matt.
He fell apart after that.
He barely moved from their his apartment, let alone their his bed. After a few months, Matt tried killing himself with some pills and a bottle of whiskey. Fortunately, a neighbor had gotten worried about the lack of noise from his apartment and called 911.
He met Lindsay and Michael at the hospital while he was recovering. Michael shared a room with him after hurting his leg saving Lindsay's cat from a tree and they became friends over playing Minecraft on Xbox. Through them, he met Gavin and Meg, a boyfriend and girlfriend pair who were also art models to a pair of twins named Peter and Petra. With their help, he managed to drag himself out of the pit of despair that he had fallen into and get back into the swing of things.
At this time of year, for the last 6 years, however, Matt always got depressed again as he was reminded of what he lost and didn't have anymore...
~*~
Matt shook himself and snapped back to the present. Looking at Jeremy's picture, he could almost hear him talking, feel him resting a hand on his shoulder.
'Just go, Axial. Don't worry about me. Who knows, you might find someone like me.'
"No one can compare to you Jerem..." Matt whispered "B-But I'll try. For tonight, I'll try..."
He sent a quick text to Lindsay saying that he had decided to go before he headed into his bathroom to shower. The event was semi-formal which meant nice jeans and sneakers with a red button up and a dove grey vest that Jeremy had bought for him as a one year anniversary present.
He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled weakly at himself. He actually looked pretty damn good. A bit scruffy but no one really minded that. He had actually been told that he looked better with a bit of a beard than without. Nice enough that maybe he'd find someone at this exhibit.
Maybe tonight wouldn't be that bad after all...
~*~
"Trinity?...Sounds cheesy." Matt dryly said staring up at the sign above the doors to the gallery.
"Gets worse." Michael snorted "I mean, Constellations is Petra's and Peter's statue and pottery exhibit, Peter's butt-buddy's photo exhibit is called Mother Earth, and that new artist guy's painting exhibit is called Facets."
"That new chap is bloody brilliant though." Gavin said, arm in arm with Meg. Meg nodded and explained to Matt "He has 30 paintings all of the same person but in different scenarios." Matt raised an eyebrow at that "30 paintings? Pete and Pet only have 24 pieces right? 12 inspired by the main Zodiac and 12 by other constellations? That's the max right?"
Lindsay shook her head "Apparently 50 is the max, but you'll like them Matt, promise!"
Matt sighed as the two couples went in ahead of him. The gallery opened up into a hall that branched into 3 rooms.
To the left was a clay slab that had the words "Constellations: The Stories in the Stars" carved into it and filled in with bronze glaze. It was decorated with glazed golden swirls and silver stars on a black background. In the corner was Peter and Petra's art signature in copper of two Ps back to back with a line stretched beneath them that crooked up at the ends to make an upside down T of the other two letters.
Above the middle doorway was a poster that had "Mother Earth: Nature and Nurture" embossed onto the board in violet. It was decorated with a photograph of a pastel blue baby's crib with bright green vines and leaves wrapped around it on a cream background. In the corner was a large uppercase C that had a smaller uppercase A in it, with the line of the A replaced by an Aquarius mark in violet.
To the right was a painted canvas that read "Facets: Many Reflections, One Face" in orange. It was simply painted with a single gem with facets of many shades of red against a pale yellow background. In the corner in olive green was a simple cursive J with a matching D next to it.
"You should go check out Jay's stuff." A woman said from next to Matt making him jump. He turned slightly annoyed to meet Petra's amused grey eyes peering up at him from behind her thick blue framed glasses. She continued waving a hand towards the doorway of her gallery "Pete and Col have been making out in Pete's and my area while Colin's little bro, Eric has been making out with both his boyfriend, Sean, and his girlfriend, Felicity, in Colin's area."
Matt made a face making Petra laugh as she nudged him towards the doorway of the Facet's exhibit "Go on! You'll find them...Interesting I'll bet..."
He rolled his eyes at her but went in as she asked. He raised an eyebrow at the nearest painting labeled "Halloween" that showed someone dressed in a Jack of Blades costume, with facepaint rather than an actual mask on. "Huh...Guess someone likes Fable." He murmured as he wandered on looking at the paintings.
There was something about the paintings that seemed familiar to him but he couldn't quite place it. Painting after painting passed by and he noted the wide range of topics they covered. From holidays to hobbies to the seasons, there seemed to be a painting for everything.
Once he was done circling the edges of the room, Matt made his way towards the center of the room where there was a square pillar with a painting on each side of it. These paintings were the only ones to have further down than the man's shoulders and seemed more detailed than the others too.
Facing the doorway was a painting called "First" and showed the subject of the other paintings looking apologetically at the viewer in what looked to be a coffee shop. The angle suggested that the viewer had fallen down and was looking up at the man.
The painting on the left side of the pillar labeled "Next" showed the man offering the viewer cotton candy at what seemed to be an amusement park as he ate his own chunk of cotton candy. Matt noted the detail in the lighting, suggesting that there was a fireworks display going on.
The painting on the right was titled "Then" and made Matt and everyone else who saw it blush because, lying down with strips of light from a street lamp crossing their skin, was the man. What made it awkward though was that it was of the guy was naked, lying on his stomach, with only a sheet to barely cover his ass.
The final painting made Matt freeze and raise a hand to his mouth to smother a sob. "Last" was a painting of the man looking worried, holdig the viewer at arm's length and for the first time in any of the paintings, he was wearing glasses and had the definite beginnings of facial hair.
Suddenly he realized why all the paintings seemed familiar to him: they were all of him.
Why was this person painting me? How did they know what I look like?
"Are you okay Mister?" A familiar voice said from behind Matt. He swallowed and nodded not turning around. He didn't want to shatter the illusion that that voice caused to form in his head.
"You don't look it." They were moving to stand beside him. Matt kept his eyes fixated on the painting's eyes and shrugged.
"Are you going to throw up?" A hand rested on his shoulder. He shook his head minutely.
"You sure about that?" The hand squeezed his arm gently. He finally couldn't resist the urge and looked at the person.
His heart nearly stopped, seeing a familiar face topped with short dark hair, just long enough to start curling as it partially hid a faded pink scar that crept up from just above his right eye up into his hairline. It was older than he remembered but still had the same strong broad jaw and curious dark chocolate eyes that Matt remembered so fondly.
He lowered his hand from his face and his heart plummeted when he didn't see any sign of even slight recognition spark in his eyes. "J-Jeremy?" He whispered.
His heart did stop when the ghost's eyebrows furrowed and he slowly replied "Yes? Who are you?"
Matt started to reply when he felt dizzy and passed out. A shout of "Shit! Kdin help!" spoken by a familiar voice echoed in his ears as reality faded...