Mr. Melancholy (Gus x Matt)

16. Serein

(I know that technically all of these chapters are 3rd person, but this one will show both Matt and Gus' thought processes/emotions)
Third-person pov:

The movie ended and Gus shut off the TV. He turned and asked Matt, "Should we go get something to eat for lunch?"

"Sure"

The two boys stood up and head downstairs to the kitchen. Gus made them each a sandwich. When they finished, they washed their plates and went back upstairs.

"I have an idea," Gus said with a small smile, "how about we go for a quick walk? It's always nice to clear your head with some fresh air!"

"Oh, sure. That sounds good," Matt replied, slightly off guard from Gus' random question.

"C'mon," Gus chirped, heading toward the door.

"Wait!" Matt called, dashing after his friend.

When Matt was down the stairs, Gus was already sitting on the couch, putting his shoes on.

"Holy crap dude, wait for me," Matt sighed with playful exhaustion. He grabbed his shoes from the doormat and put them on. When he was done, Gus was standing by the door with a wide grin. It reminded Matt of an excited little puppy, which made him giggle.

"You know, you're kinda like a puppy when you get excited," Matt said with a little laugh. He looked over at Gus and saw his face turn slightly red.

"Oh- I don't mean it in a bad way-"

"It's fine, don't sweat it," Gus replied coolly, heading out the door.

The two boys walked in awkward silence for a little bit. Gus gathered the courage to strike up a conversation.

"So how have your school courses been going? Aren't you going to join the illusion track this week?"

Matt smiled, he was glad that Gus remembered him telling him about finally getting to join the illusion track, it made him feel important. "My courses are going fine, I'm actually top in my construction class!"

Gus stopped in his tracks and held out his hands for a double-high-five. "Thats great dude! Why didn't you say anything to me sooner!?"

Matt's face flushed in embarrassment, he held his hands up and completed the high-five. "I don't know, it just didn't seem important I guess," he mumbled, looking down.

"Well, I'd like to inform you that it is very important. And you shouldn't be ashamed about it," Gus said, wrapping an arm around Matt's shoulder, playfully dragging on him.

Matt giggled and pushed Gus' arm off of him, a beautiful smile was placed on Matt's face. Gus wished he could've taken a picture, he didn't see Matt smile very often and loved his smile.

"You have a nice smile, Matty" Gus said with a smile.

Matt's face flushed again, and he pretended he didn't hear what Gus had said. "To answer your other question though, yes; I'm getting to join the illusion track this week!"

Gus let out a small squeak of excitement and did little jumps. "I'm so excited!"

"Yeah, I'm also a little scared I guess," Matt admitted.

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. I guess I'm just scared that I won't be any good at illusions," Matt said with a shrug.

"You're gonna do great, trust me," Gus said reassuringly.

Matt smiled and nodded as thanks.

The pair ended up walking aimlessly around the neighborhood for about half an hour. They only ran home because it had started to rain.

"Hurry! Get inside!" Gus yelled, holding the door open for Matt.

When Matt got inside the house, Gus slammed the door shut and leaned against the door, panting and trying to catch his breath. He clutched his right arm, which had gotten a few drops of acid on it, he winced from the pain.

Matt stood in the middle of the room, panting and covering his arms, and wincing.

"I'll get us some stuff for this," Gus said, motioning to their arms. Matt nodded with a pained look on his face.

Gus walked over to the bathroom and motioned for Matt to follow.

Matt sat down on the tiled floor while Gus got out the first-aid kit. Gus sat down and placed the kit in front of him. He sighed and opened up the box, "We really can't get a break, can we," Gus said with a small laugh.

"Nope," Matt replied with sarcastic dullness.

Gus got out some bandaids and some ointment for the spots where the acid had touched them. He turned to Matt and said, "Here, roll up your sleeves so I can put bandaids on your arms."

Matt hesitated but rolled up his sleeves, there were quite a few spots that had been touched by the acid rain, and they stung an awful lot. What Gus also saw, which he decided not to pay attention to, was a small line of uniform-lined scars on one of Matt's arms. It hurt him to know that Matt had struggled with this, but he knew it wasn't any of his business, so he left it alone. He was glad that none of them looked recent though.

When Gus was done, Matt did the same to Gus. Gus rolled up his sleeves and Matt put bandaids on the spots touched by the rain. They also had a few marks on their faces, none of them were too bad except for one on Gus' ear that would end up leaving behind a decent-sized scar once it healed.

Absolutely exhausted from running home, both boys were very tired. But they didn't want to admit it to the other, so they just turned on a movie. This time- Gus picked the movie, Matt made sure of that.

Not to mention, it was very cold, so Gus and Matt huddled next to each other on Gus' bed. The pair were sitting next to each other, wrapped in an orange blanket.

Almost as soon as the movie started, both boys fell asleep. They were leaning against each other, the hand of one boy linked with the hand of the other boy.

They weren't asleep for very long before they were woken up.

Gus was woken up by his dad, who had knocked on his door, "Come in dad," Gus called, gently shaking Matt awake and letting go of his hand.

"Work ended early today, with the rain and all. But I stopped at the store on my way back and got something for your cat," Mr. Porter said while picking up two bags.

"I got her a litter box and some food, I figured that your cat should be happy while she stays here."

Matt had taken a second to wake up, but once he fully processed what was going on, a huge smile crept onto his face. "Oh my gosh- thank you so much..." Matt sighed, "this is going to sound weird... but is it okay if I give you a hug?"

"Sure, come here," He replied, setting down the bags and holding his arms out.

Matt walked over and hugged him, mumbling "thank you" over and over again.

After a brief moment, Matt let go and sat back down on the bed.

Before leaving to go to his office on the main floor, Gus' dad said, "I'm glad that you like it here so far, and if there's anything you need- don't hesitate to ask me."

Matt nodded and said thank you one last time before Gus' dad closed the door.

(End scene)

I've written the last 3 chapters in the span of like- not even 2 days. I'm honestly really impressed with myself.