❧ matt sturniolo imagines ☙

take a break

hey! this is a little story about stress lol ive been stressed with school so... i thought it seemed fitting

love you guys so so much!!

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"Matt, please just come lay down for a second or something." You sighed as you spoke, your words now showing annoyance. The boy across the room ignored you, once again, and continued writing things quickly onto the whiteboard mounted on the wall.

Matt had been working his absolute brains out for the past three days. You were used to his random bursts of motivation, but this had gone too far. You couldn't recall the last time you saw him eat, sleep, relax, or do just about anything that involved self care. Of course, being his girlfriend, you cared for him and tried everything you could think of to get him to listen and take a break. This was little to no use, though, considering how stubborn he was.

He's had episodes like this in the past where he dedicated his time to the youtube channel and only the channel, but this one was starting to worry you. As you watched him write ideas and plans on the board, you examined his paler skin and emphasized dark circles. You noticed his hand shaking as he scribbled things down with the marker, pausing every now and then to recollect his scrambled thoughts. You could tell he was taking longer to finish sentences because of the lack of food he was getting. His brain must've been finding it harder to function without the right amount of energy. Every time you asked him if he had eaten all day, he responded with the same thing: "Don't worry, I will in a second." You knew this was a lie, though, because you hadn't seen him eat in what seemed like forever.

As you continued being an observer off to the side, you started thinking about the moments you shared with him in the last three days. You looked down at your hands as you thought about waiting for him at nighttime for bed, only to go searching for him and finding him stressed about something. He would be writing down ideas, in meetings with their manager, working on his personal project, editing personal channel videos, or doing anything related to their social media career. When you confronted him about his sleeplessness, he got defensive and quiet, almost anxious in a way.

You began picking at your fingernails as you thought about the day before when you and the boys went out. Matt was quiet the whole time, biting his nails and acting strange. On the car ride home he had a meltdown and had to pull over while Nick tried to calm him. It wasn't a panic attack, but more of a stress-rooted breaking point. It sprouted when Chris and Nick were innocently discussing the fans' tik toks they'd seen about their recent video, mentioning different opinions they'd seen. He suddenly started crying, his breaths short as he struggled with the steering wheel and slowly pulled over on the road. You and Chris gave each other looks of worry as Nick consoled him, rubbing his shoulder and speaking reassuringly while Matt rambled "sorry" under his breath millions of times. After he had calmed down, he immediately drove everyone home and didn't mention it at all, going straight back to work.

Now, today, he still hasn't talked to you about it or left his work craze. You were starting to get frustrated with him, and you missed spending time with him without work involved. You missed your boyfriend. Sure, it had only been three days, but it was impacting his health and your relationship. Something had to be done.

"Matt, I'm talking to you." You spoke firmly, looking back up at him. He stopped writing and glanced back at you, his thoughts interrupted by your words.

"I'll come lay down in a second. Hold on." He mumbled his response, focusing on remembering where he was with his sentence on the board. You let out an aggravated sigh and got up from the couch, making your way over to him. His attention remained on the board, leaving you unnoticed.