Chapter Text
It was a dark and rainy evening. You were walking through the busy streets of Toronto and eventually arrived at the local theatre. This was going to be your second time this month visiting a theatre show, which is something you honestly didn’t expect from yourself. Last time you were here they played a musical titled “Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life” which you enjoyed way more than you expected.
In fact, you liked it so much that you wanted to make it a habit to visit the theatre more often. You’d been feeling rather lonely lately and visiting the theatre helped you be surrounded by people. Today they were playing a different musical and you wanted to check it out.
You showed your ticket and made your way inside the building. It was bustling and even busier than last time, which caught you off guard a little. You still had a good 30 minutes until the show would start, so you decided to make your way over to the bar. The theatre had this bar where people could meet up before and after the show. That could be a fun way of socialising, you thought.
You narrowly made your way through the crowd and finally found a seat right next to the bar. You ordered a drink and looked around. It was really, REALLY full in here, and you felt your anxiety rising up a little. Hopefully the alcohol could calm your nerves, even if only a little bit. Being all alone here didn’t help either. Everyone seemed to be here with a partner, or a group of friends. You were thinking of ways to engage with others, but you had no idea how to break that barrier. Just when you’d given up making social contact, you saw a familiar figure out of the corner of your eye.
He was sitting a couple seats next to you, with a drink in his hands. You squinted your eyes and thought very deeply where you recognised him from… then it hit you. That’s the guy that played the main character in the last musical you went to!
…Huh.
You couldn’t help but be a little excited about just seeing him in the wild like that. I mean, he’s probably very famous, right? He played in a pretty big musical, after all. You kept looking to see if he was joined by anyone else, but he seemed to be enjoying his wine all by himself. To be honest, you really wanted to socialise tonight, with anyone, but were you desperate enough to reach out to him ?
After thinking about it for a good second you realised that this might be your only option if you wanted to socialise tonight.
You stood up out of your seat and made your way through the crowd, to the man whose name you weren’t even sure of anymore… What was it, Max? Mason? You didn’t have much time to think as you already found yourself standing in front of him. It didn’t take long for him to notice you and he turned around, still on his seat.
“Do I know you?” he asked with his wine still in his hand.
Your anxiety RISED up. What the fuck were you doing.
“H-hi… Mr uh… Mr Mason? I recently saw your musical, it was really good” you kept staring at him with tense shoulders.
He blinked at you for a second, your anxiety raised even more as you were wondering if you said anything wrong. There was a slight frown on his face.
“....It’s Matthew Patel. And thank you.” he turned around again, his back now facing you.
You swear you just felt your soul leaving your body out of embarrassment. You called yourself a fan of his show and you didn’t even know his freaking name?! God you wished you could punch yourself right now. Sigh.
After standing there for a good few seconds you decided it would probably be best to leave and never say a word to this guy ever again. If only you could just disappear right now…
Just as you were about to walk away Matthew suddenly turned around again, facing you. “What did you like about it?” His facial expression was very neutral.
Astonished by his sudden turn around, your brain started racing. What happened in the musical again? Your anxiety made it hard to think straight.
“I uhm, I really liked the parts you were in… Mr Patel” was all you managed to say out loud.
He took a sip from his wine as you waited for him to respond again. After taking his sip, which felt like an eternity, his eyes widened. “You really liked my acting?” a smile appeared on his face.
“Y-yeah! I thought you were pretty great in it”
Matthew’s smile grew wider and his eyes began… sparkling? Surely he must hear these kinds of compliments every day… right?
“Ahh! I’m so happy to have met a fan!” He widened his arms in an expressive motion and he took a hold of your hands. “Do you want an autograph?” He smiled at you. He had this sort of childlike wonder to him which you couldn’t help but think was quite adorable.
You nodded. “Uhh, sure- I…” Your mind was racing, did you have anything he could sign? To be honest you weren’t even a really big fan of him or anything, you just wanted to say hi…
“Uhm, you can sign my bag… if you want?” You handed him your bag.
“Of course!! Anything for my fans!!” He grabbed a pen out of his breast pocket, as if he was prepared for this kind of situation. He happily signed your bag and gave it back to you.
“Uh, thank you Mr… Patel.”
He laughed loudly. “Of course! I hope you’ll have fun watching the upcoming show, it’s one of my favorites!”
You nodded and thanked him, then made your way out of there. That was like, one of the most embarrassing and strangest interactions you’d had in a long time. Anyway, the show was about to start in a couple of minutes, so you went over to the theatre hall and took your seat.
Slowly the hall started to fill up with people. The seat next to you was still empty though, so you placed your bag there. Most seats were filled by now and you were waiting for the show to start. You looked around and saw Matthew hastily look around with his ticket in his hand. He seemed a little annoyed and was mumbling to himself. It was then that he took notice of you and his eyes widened. Without a second thought he waved and walked over to you.
“Aha!” he pointed to the seat next to you, which was still being used by your bag. “And isn’t that a coincidence? This seat even has my name on it, " he joked. It took you a second to realise what he meant. He, of course, was talking about the autograph he had just written on your bag, spelling his name. It gave you a small chuckle. You placed your bag under your seat and Matthew took the seat right next to you.
“Some people just took my seat! Can you believe that? Just as the show is about to start, I’d almost maken a fool of myself!” He continued mumbling and he was very physically expressive with his hands.
“Hmmm, that’s unfortunate, but I’m glad you could still find a place to sit.” you gave him a small smile, hoping that would calm him down.
Well that’s just your luck, having to sit next to him through the entire show.
The theatre hall gradually got darker, signalling that the show was about to start. Matthew suddenly became dead quiet, only focusing on what was in front of him.
Throughout the entire show Matthew’s eyes were fixated on the performances. Coupled with his very expressive reactions, both facial and physically, it made for a very interesting experience. You couldn’t help but find yourself looking at him every now and then, curious how he would react to the show. Something about him was very intriguing and it made you understand why he was a performer himself. He was obviously very passionate about this.
The show itself was pretty good, too. You really enjoyed your time watching it and it felt like a sign to you that visiting the theatre more often was a good idea. After the show was done Matthew stepped out of his seat and gave a standing ovation. He was the only one doing that, but he didn’t seem to care. After the performers left the stage Matthew sat back on his seat, his eyes looking a bit teary eyed.
You turned to him and smiled. “Well, you sure seemed to enjoy that”
His face turned to you and he gave a big nod, “That was incredible. What did you think of it?”
You raised your shoulders, “Hmmm, well I liked it! This is my second time visiting a theatre, so I don’t have a lot of experience, but I thought it was pretty goo-” upon hearing this Matthew’s eyes widened and he immediately leaned into you.
“YOU’VE ONLY ATTENDED TWO SHOWS IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE?!” his shouting could be heard all over the hall and many people looked at you two. You felt pretty embarrassed.
“...Yes…?” you awkwardly chuckled.
Matthew placed his hands in his hair and let out a moan, “Ah! You poor soul…” For some reason you felt a bit guilty to see him like this, yet you couldn’t help but find the situation awkward. He sure was passionate about this.
Matthew’s hands were still in his hair and you didn’t have a good sight of his facial expression. Meanwhile people were slowly walking out of the hall and it got emptier and emptier. Yet the two of you were still sitting there.
“Actually, Mr Patel, the reason I decided to even visit my second theatre show was because I enjoyed yours so much”
He looked up to you with stars in his eyes, “Really?” You nodded and saw that big smile appear on his face again. You
really
enjoyed seeing him smile.
You continued. “To be honest, I’ve felt rather lonely lately. By complete luck I ended up winning free tickets to your musical, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to do this more regularly. And so far it has made me feel less… lonely”
You could’ve sworn you saw the slightest blush on Matthew’s cheeks. But before you had time to even process that he took your hands. “That makes me so happy!”
At this point everyone in the hall had already left and it was just the two of you in your seats. For a moment there was a small silence, not necessarily awkward, but you did want to break the silence. You let go of his hands.
“Say, Mr Patel, do you want to get a drink together at the bar?” you proposed without a thought.
“I’d love to! I can tell you even more about theatre if you want!” he beamed. You smiled back at him.
The two of you were the last to leave the hall and you entered the bar inside of the theatre. It was once again pretty busy there, lots of people were discussing the show they just saw and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Matthew walked over to the bar and you simply followed him. It was pretty obvious to you that he knew his way around here.
The seats around the bar table were all occupied, so after ordering two drinks (and treating you!) Matthew took you to a different seating in the corner. You couldn’t help but feel kind of special, the way he was treating you. The two of you sat down with a drink in your hands.
“So… Mr Patel-”
He interrupted, “Please just say Matthew” you were quiet for a second and nodded. “So Matthew. What other stuff have you done aside from.. theatre?”
He placed his hand on his chin and began to think. “Well… I was a part of some Evil Ex League for a while, that sure was uhh, something… I was a CEO for some time, and now I’m managing the theatre!”
To be honest that first part sounded like some sort of joke, so you just bruised it aside for now. “That sounds like you’ve done some pretty interesting stuff so far. You must get a lot of attention all the time. How many autographs do you sign every day, hahaha”
He looked down at the ground, his demeanour suddenly changing. “Actually, to tell you the truth..” he stared at his glass of wine for a second, “You’re the first fan I’ve met so far.” He looked back at you.
“...Oh. Huh.” You were kind of baffled by this. “I’m uh, sorry, to hear that?”
He raised his shoulders, “Ah well,” his hands reached out to yours once again, “I’m at least happy to have met you” He gazed at you and your cheeks started to burn a little bit. He let go of your hands and coughed, “Uhm, anyway, this has been a nice evening”
You smiled at him and continued your drink. You usually didn’t drink a lot of alcohol, and you could already feel the alcohol a little bit. Nothing too bad, though. Just enough to get the anxious edge off.
“Wait.” You looked around you. “My bag. Where is it” You began to panic a little as you kept looking around your seat.
Matthew’s eyes widened, “You still had it with you during the show. Did you forget to take it with you?”
“Ah! Hmm. Yeah… I did place my bag under my seat, I guess I forgot to take it with me… Aghhh but the hall must be closed by now!! What do I do!!” You placed your hands in your face out of frustration.
Matthew then grabbed his keys out of his pocket and they made a KLING sound. “Hey, did you forget? I’m the manager around here” A sense of relief washed over you. The two of you finished your drinks and made your way back to the theatre hall. Matthew opened the doors with his keys and you immediately went looking for your seat. It was difficult to navigate though, as it was pretty dark.
“Girls, a fire please” Matthew ordered. Suddenly you saw four demon girls appear which caught you off guard. “Uhh, what.. are those?” You pointed at the demon girls as you hid behind Matthew. He laughed with his hands placed on his hips. “They’re my demon hipster chicks! They always come in pretty handy. And hey, look, there’s your seat!” He walked over to it and looked under the seat. He grabbed your bag and put it in the air. “Look at that, still got my autograph on it!” He winked at you. Or at least you think he winked, it’s a bit hard to see with his hair covering his other eye.
You chuckled and took over the bag, wearing it around your shoulder. “Thanks.” The demon hipster chicks disappeared and the hall was now filled with just you and him. You felt a little awkward and weren’t sure what to do.
“Shall we.. head back to the bar?” He proposed, feeling the awkward tension rising between you two.
Maybe it was the alcohol, you weren’t sure, but you had a better idea. “Actually, now that we’re here, I’d love to see more of the theatre! Maybe you can… give me a tour around here?”
Matthew’s eyes began to glitter again and he smiled at you “You really want that??” He then suddenly changed his composure and tried to look more confident. “I mean… Heh, sure, is there anything in particular you want to see?”
You weren’t sure why he changed his attitude so suddenly, it was pretty obvious he was just trying to seem cool. Guess you could see right through his acting. “Well, you’re the theatre guy! You probably know what’s the most interesting stuff around here” You smiled at him and winked.
Yeah, the alcohol was definitely having an effect on you, but truth be told, you didn’t mind. Matthew coughed again, “Hmm, well, let’s go backstage, I can show you some of the cool set pieces!” He walked over to the stage with you right behind him.
To be fair, you weren’t even sure what your intentions were with this, you mostly just really enjoyed his presence and liked seeing him being so excited about his passion. Also, it was nice to not be surrounded by so many people for a bit, the quietness was pleasant.
Matthew pushed the big red curtains away and guided you to the back which was filled with really cool set pieces from the show you’d seen earlier tonight. After walking around the set for a bit Matthew went over to the fitting room where performers usually change into their costumes. He turned on the lights which were very vibrant and it took your eyes a few seconds to adjust. When your eyes finally adjusted to the lighting you were met with a very luxurious fitting room with big mirrors. In the mirror you saw yourself standing next to Matthew. Something about seeing the two of you next to each other was nice.
“Pretty cool huh!” He excitedly walked over to the other side of the room, opened a door and signalled with his hands that you should come look. You walked over to him and saw a big room filled with all sorts of colorful costumes. It really was a cool sight. Being able to see everything behind the scenes was genuinely pretty interesting, and hearing Matthew talk about his passion was very cute. It was pretty obvious to you that he didn’t have a lot of people to talk about this with, and you were happy to listen.
You walked through the costume room and looked at all the silly outfits. “Haha, hey, isn’t this the costume you wore in your musical?” You pointed to a yellow shirt with a red star on it. Matthew immediately came running to you. “Careful!” He shouted, “Please don’t touch it!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” You quickly let go of the shirt, a bit taken aback by his sudden shouting.
“Ahh, it’s… okay. But please don’t touch anything. I have to make sure everything here is perfect.” He faced away from you and placed his hand behind his neck. Perhaps he was a bit embarrassed by his own reaction.
“Hey, that’s okay, I understand!” You smiled at him which he saw from the corner of his eye. He then faced back at you again. “Honestly, I have lots of respect for you for even managing a theatre like this, it must be a lot of work.” That got a small chuckle out of him.
“Hah.. Well, I guess this is all there is to see. Or is there anything else you want?” He asked you. How desperately you wanted to respond with just you in that moment, but alas you weren’t that tipsy. “Sure, I’d love to have another drink at the bar, I’m sure you have more stories to tell” You gave him a sassy smile, which in turn made him blush a little.
Matthew guided you back to the bar which had gotten a little emptier since you’d last been there. The two of you were backstage for a little while after all, so it made sense some people had left by now. He ordered another drink for both of you and you sat down once again, this time with your bag close to you. He began to talk about how his passion for theatre started, that it had been his dream ever since he was a child and how much it meant to him that he was a performer now. He was also curious to hear more about you and the two of you gradually got more invested in each other. You told him what you did for a living, what your hobbies were, what kind of dreams you had, and much more. It had been a while since someone had been so interested in what you had to say and it really meant a lot to you that he was listening so thoroughly. The alcohol also made it a lot easier to open up to him as your anxiety wasn’t that big of a problem anymore. You were just being yourself, talking and laughing with him, and you both had a really good time.
Every now and then you would make a sassy or flirty remark, hoping to see his cheeks light up once more. With each time Matthew blushed you found yourself falling for this silly guy more and more. Oops. There was something so undeniably cute about him and you just couldn’t help but feel… strangely attracted to him, and it was getting worse as the night progressed. You tried to push aside your thoughts for now as you weren’t entirely sure how he felt about you.
After chatting for what felt like hours, the bar had gotten completely empty except for you two. The theatre was about to close and unfortunately you had to end your conversation with him.
Matthew closed up the theatre and walked with you outside. It was still raining heavily and the streets were vacant. Normally you’d already be home at this hour, so seeing the streets of Toronto like this was a very specific vibe.
“Do you live nearby?” He asked, his hands in his pockets. You raised your shoulders. “Kind of? It’s like a 30 minute walk. It’s okay though, I’ll manage.” It was then that the rain got heavier and you heard some rumbling in the sky. “..Are you sure?”
You smiled, “Don’t you worry, I’ve got my trusty umbrella with me” You took your umbrella out of your bag, only to find there was a hole in it. With a disappointed look you placed it back in your bag. “Ah. Hmm. Yeah, that sucks. But it’s okay, I can survive a little rain.” You gave him a forced smile, hoping he would not worry.
“If you want, I uhm-” he coughed, “I live 5 minutes away from here. I even have a guest room. You’re free to come over. Only if you want of course” he stared at the ground with his hands still in his pockets, “And the weather isn’t gonna get any better soon”.
You felt a smile appear on your face. ‘..Oh! That’d be great actually. Thanks Matthew!” Without a second thought you gave him a hug. You were definitely intoxicated, that’s for sure, because as soon as you realised what you’d just done you abruptly ended the hug and stepped back. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep any… boundaries.” Matthew’s face was bright red at this point and he was having trouble directly facing you.
“I-it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Let’s go.” After a short moment of silence he started walking over to his apartment and you followed suit. He did not lie, his apartment really was only a 5 minute walk away. It kind of made sense for a guy like him to live so close to the theatre and you thought that was cute.
His apartment building was very tall and luxurious looking, these were probably some expensive places. But with him having been a CEO and now theatre manager it didn’t really surprise you. You followed him inside, into the elevator, and eventually to his front door. Neither of you said much, you were mostly looking around the area and Matthew was focussed on getting home. He grabbed his keys out of his pockets and opened the door. You walked in right after him and were met with a very different room decor than you’d expected from him. Every wall was either painted red or black, the floor was made from grey carpet and his furniture was kind of minimalistic. There were posters of various music bands and theatre shows hanging on the ceiling. You hung your jacket to the coat rack and followed him into the living room. Your clothes were soaking wet from the rain and you placed your hands around yourself to hopefully warm up a little.
“You must be really cold. Do you want to borrow some of my clothes? They’d probably fit you”
You were trembling a little from the cold and simply nodded. He walked on over to his bedroom and you walked right after him. His bedroom had the same vibes as the rest of his house. A mostly red and black color scheme, and even more posters hanging on his walls. There was also a vanity with a big mirror there, with some make up, nail polish and piercings left on there. Seeing Matthew’s house like this definitely gave you a new sight into the kind of person he was. He opened his wardrobe which was full of edgy clothes, a very different vibe from the suit he’d been wearing all night.
“You can try this on if you want” He threw you a striped polo shirt and some sweatpants, “I’ll just uhh, leave you alone here, so you can try it on and stuff.” He walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him. You heard him walk through the hallway, over to the kitchen.
You took a good look at the striped polo. It was a red and black polo shirt, which wasn’t much of a surprise considering his entire house decor. You couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. Now that you were all alone you took a better look at his bedroom. He sure had a lot of make-up lying around everywhere, especially eyeliner. There was also a cardboard box with a tag on it that said “Personal”. You didn’t even dare to look into it. After trying on the clothes, which fit you perfectly fine, you made your way outside of his bedroom and followed him to the kitchen. He had changed into some other clothes as well, he was wearing a black and purple pyjama with skulls on it. As your eyes scanned his cute pyjama you noticed he seemed to be making some tea.
He poured the tea inside two drinking mugs and gave you a thumbs up. “Seems to fit you!” You nodded at him.
“I made us some tea. Figured you’d like something warm after that cold rain.” He offered you a mug with warm tea inside of it. A smile appeared on your face and you thanked him.
Matthew walked on over to the living room and sat on his couch. You followed and placed yourself next to him. Something about being here was… pleasant. You felt very at ease. There was silence, but not an uncomfortable silence. You simply enjoyed the quiet moment you had with him as you both drank your tea. It was nice. Drinking the tea made you feel a lot warmer.
“Uhm. Before we head to bed, is there anything else you need right now? Like from me?” He asked, facing you. Your mind began to think, did you need anything from him? Truth be told you really didn’t want this night to end already. If there was any moment for you to make it clear you were interested in him, this kind of felt like your last chance. You were thinking of what would be the best way to initiate something.
With a flirtatious undertone you spoke to him, “I mean. I’d love to get more… personal, if you know what I mean.” You gazed at him and saw his eyes widening.
“That’s…” he was quiet for a moment and you waited for his response. Uh oh, did you say something wrong? Had you become too intoxicated? Were you too direct with him? You felt your anxiety coming up again.
“...That’s a great idea!” He leaned over you with a big smile, “Give me a moment! I have the perfect stuff for this!!” With excitement he walked right over to the bedroom.
What the heck was he planning?
It didn’t take long for him to return, this time holding a box. It had a tag on it saying “Personal”. Uh oh. Upon seeing this your heart started racing. You had no idea what was in there and you started to worry if you’d been too straightforward with him. Like, yeah you were absolutely into him, but you knew what a box tagged with ‘Personal” could have in it. Especially as you’d seen it before in the bedroom of all things. Was he really… going that direction, already?
Matthew seated himself on the couch again with the box between the two of you. You anxiously waited for him to open the box, not knowing what the hell to expect.
“Okay, so! I know this might be a little early, and maybe this isn’t exactly the right moment for this. But since you wanted something more personal, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity!” He opened the box and immediately placed his hand in it, trying to grab something. “Here it is!” He pulled his hand out of the box and finally the mysterious, personal item had shown itself to you.
“This is a VHS recording that my mom took of me when I was only 5 years old! It’s the first time I took an interest in performing so it’s very dear to me. I could show it to you if you want!” He gazed at you with a big smile and starry eyes.
You gulped and blinked at him. A slight, awkward smile appeared on your face, “....Sure. You can show it to me” Without hesitation Matthew jumped out of the couch, reaching for his TV and VHS player, and he inserted the VHS.
An adorably small Matthew appeared on the TV screen. It was a very amateurish recording from the late 80s or early 90s. He was singing and dancing and you could hear his parents in the background cheering him on.
“Look, this is where it all began!” Matthew pointed to the TV with a confident look on his face, “Isn’t it incredible?!”
You were a little bit disappointed he didn’t seem to take your flirty hints at all , but you also couldn’t help but smile at the recording. It really was cute to see him be so excited about his passion. After accepting that maybe tonight just wasn’t that night, you were happy to watch along with him.
After watching the recording for a couple of minutes, the little Matthew on TV suddenly began dancing even sillier and it got a chuckle out of you. “My gosh Matthew, you’re such a cutie” you blurted out laughing. Matthew began to laugh out loud with you, “Hahaha! You really like me, don’t you?”
Upon hearing this your laughter gradually ended and you gazed at him with burning cheeks. He quickly caught on to what he’d just said and how it could be interpreted. He began to stutter, “I-I didn’t mean it, uhm- Like that, you know, I mean, I do, like.. you.. uhm-” You quietly gazed at him as his stuttering slowly stopped and he, too stared at you, a bright blush appearing on his face. You could not keep your eyes away from him and the room got filled with only the sound of his VHS recording. Seeing Matthew flustered like this filled you with butterflies.
Very slowly you inched closer to him and he did not back away, a sign to you that he was okay with your initiation. The two of you kept staring at each other as you inched closer. You used your hand to move away his hair out of his face, now being met with both of his eyes. He had this kind of cute puppy gaze at you.
“M-Matthew? …May I…?”
He gave an ever so slight nod to you which prompted you to give him a very small peck on the lips. It felt nice. You stared at him once more, this time your face incredibly close to his, and gave him another peck on the lips. You moved your body closer to him and you placed yourself very close to his lap. You felt your heart racing. You planted a small kiss on his cheek. His skin felt soft and warm. After accepting your kisses, he carefully kissed your cheek too.
“You’re so.. warm” He whispered with a low, soft voice. You found yourself giving him another peck on the lips. Eventually these small pecks turned into longer kisses. And before you knew it you felt yourself getting addicted to his lips. Matthew carefully placed his arm around your back, pulling you even closer to him. You found yourself becoming completely fixated on him, your feelings rushing through your body as you kissed each other even deeper than before. You both became completely engulfed in the kiss. It was then that you felt it.
‘SPARKS?!?!?” Both of you shouted simultaneously, ending the passionate kiss.
Matthew leaned back, away from you, and stared at you with big eyes. You were a little taken aback yourself, too. Not sure what to say, you simply blinked at him. You could swear you saw his mind racing just by looking at his face. He then jumped right out of the couch.
“W-W-WAIT. I’m not- How is this… possible??” He placed his hands in his hair, which had gotten a little greasy by now. He kept mumbling to himself as he began walking circles in the living room, with his hands still scrambling his hair. “I don’t even know if- Like… I’m not sure.. I’ve never?? W-w-w-we barely know each other! A-a-a-and I’m actually kind of evil, you know that?!”
The sight of Matthew panicking as he kept walking circles with hands in his hair, while the VHS recording of little Matthew was still playing on the TV… you couldn’t help but find something about the entire situation a little comedic. Then there was another part of you that was a little embarrassed that your first sparks were with this guy. Then again, sparks never lie.
Your lips turned into a soft smile. “Matthew.”
He stopped walking circles and looked at you. You placed your hand on the couch, signalling that he should come sit next to you again. He quietly took the seat next to you once more, and looked at you.
You gave him a soft, friendly expression. “Let’s take it easy, okay?”
He took a moment to process everything, then nodded. A sigh of relief came over him and his tense shoulders slowly relaxed.
You continued. “We’ll work it out. But for now.. let’s just enjoy the moment.”
“..Okay.”
You inched closer to him once more and placed your head on his shoulder. He put his arm around you, snuggling closer to you. The VHS recording didn’t seem to be anywhere near finished as his parents kept cheering him on to do more songs. You felt yourself slightly dozing off in his arms, to the sound of little Matthew singing in the background. What an odd night you’d found yourself in.