"don't pretend like you wouldn't!" nesrin cried as she shook her head. she hadn't anticipated making friendships like the ones that she had made in maple brook. matty was one of her dearest friendships - even if he was a little jagged around the edges. she had never really believed in the 'opposites attract' theory until her friendship with him. "yes. that is the right word, right? the little things with the wings?" she questioned. she had a pretty fantastic grasp of the english language nowadays but sometimes words seemed to slip out of her mind. she had a particularly hard time of it when she was sick. it was like her brain was too tired to translate everything that she was saying and they were saying back to her. "hmm maybe! i think that might explain it." she laughed. "oh you think you've foiled some sort of plot, right? wrong. i just love you so much i want to give you little treats and i'm offended you think otherwise!" she crossed her arms and stomped her foot in fake annoyance.

blue eyes narrowed as if in deep consideration and he shrugged. "who said anything about pretending?" despite his protestations, matty did little to fight the explicitly fond smile that pulled at his lips as she spoke. he'd somehow managed to hit a gold mine on the roommate front, though part of him was surprised nesrin had even stuck around for so long. the fact that she seemed to tolerate or like him enough to bake cookies and share was borderline mind boggling. "hm?" he glanced up from his engrossment in the cookie, looking a little lost, then nodded. "oh. yeah, you're right. fairies," a pause. "i'm fairly sure they're actually just cupcakes, but i remember at primary school we called them fairy cakes, maybe you should stick with the theme and make some of those." propping himself up on his elbows and unceremoniously brushing crumbs from his t-shirt onto the couch, he gave a deliberately slow nod. "you think because you look so innocent you'll get away with it, but i'm on to you missy," he wagged a finger in his best impression of a schoolteacher and laughed. "wouldn't trust you as far as i could throw you."

closed starter for @mattyfms location: the widow's bite

clarke wasn’t sure how he and matty had ended up sitting across from each other (in a themed bar, of all places) talking as if they’d known each other for a decade. how had their first meeting spiraled into this? they were complete opposites. so why had matty even given him a second look? why had he decided clarke was worth knowing? and did matty feel it too—that quiet, unspoken pull between them? they got along effortlessly. in a crowded room, clarke’s eyes would always find matty’s and he felt calm and anchored, yet completely undone. when he’d first met matty, clarke was intimidated and could barely meet the other’s gaze— but, god he shouldn’t have been. matty was softness, laughter, and wild joy wrapped in a leather jacket and adorned in piercings. for some reason, he kept clarke around — clarke, who followed him around like a puppy dog while matty ensured he felt safe at all times. "now...now you're making fun of me," clarke pressed his lips together, unable to hide the smile on his face. with matty's hand pressing down his collar, clarke swallowed thickly, the back of his neck growing hot. he hated how easily flustered he got. tilting his head to the side, clarke's brows furrowed in thought, "i-i don't relax. i just stay nervous." perhaps the question made him ruminate more than he'd anticipated because clarke barely noticed when the adorned drink was placed before him. but, matty's voice cut through the noise in clarke's head and brown eyes looked again to their anchor, a self-deprecating chuckle leaving his lips. "have you had to fake it before? to, uhm, to feel like you belong?" clarke's hand wrapped around his drink, trembling just slightly. he brought it to his lips, taking a sip — the alcohol felt like fire going down his throat and his face twisted as he placed the glass back down. "goodness, what's in that?"

before moving to maple brook, matty had been a different creature altogether. a tabloid had once used the word 'feral' and he'd worn it as a badge of honour for years afterwards. he couldn't and wouldn't be contained. the town and its inhabitants had undeniably sanded the rough edges down to something more manageable. his relationship with clarke was one of the more consistent pieces of evidence for that. he had no shame in admitting that not so long ago someone of clarke's sensibilities would have done nothing but royally piss him off. of course, it helped that the other was ridiculously handsome ( who was he to turn away any pretty face brave enough to take interest in him? ) and at times it did still irk him, but in a different way. sometimes, he just wanted to grab clarke and shake him until he stopped doubting himself. "well, you asked," he laughed. "the more you say shit like that, the more i'm tempted to get you just... obscenely drunk and see what happens... if you're still nervous then." he reached for a nearby cocktail shaker full of ice and shook it enticingly until the question again gave him pause. matty frowned. "not really? i never belonged in the house -- with my family -- but i never wanted to, so..." a shrug of one shoulder. "vodka, chambord, cranberry juice and champagne. it's called a vampire's kiss," punctuated the name with a wink and the pouting of pink lips. "it's one of my favourites."

"So I asked my cousin what he's planning to do about the situation. I figure they all gotta be mad at each other, right? 'Cause emotions and shit, but they're all just gonna keep seeing each other, don't know if it's at the same time or what, and I ain't got nothin' against non-traditional relationships, but holy crap, I got a feeling that shit's gonna get messy. They're gonna end up pissing each other off and then he's gonna be in his room listening to Death Cab For Cutie like a love-sick teenager." Beck preferred to stay out of entanglements like that these days. He'd flown too close to the sun a couple times.

that would be his assumption, too ; the three of them at least desperately annoyed by the situation. matty? well, he wouldn't have been in the situation in the first place, but he would bet good money on a casket or two being blown if he was. brows drawn together in utter confusion, he shook his head and shot his horse friend ( and then beck, just for good measure ) a side-eye for the history books. "somebody ought to knock their heads together before the my chemical romance cds come out." he didn't know beck's cousin, of course, but still made a distinct mental note to avoid him and any of the fifty people he seemed to be attached to.

open starter !! (capping at 5-6 replies) location: macallister green

"oh. yes." nesrin nodded her head, "any day now. there'll be a knock on the door and off i go! you'll miss me then." she teased. nesrin didn't have siblings but if she did, she thought that the relationship she had with matty would be pretty similar. they were like chalk and cheese. they shouldn't get along and yet ... he was one of her favourite people that she had met in town. "the grinch? no." she took another nibble of the cookie before she spoke again. "but it was some sort of - hm. how do you say it? peri... oh ! fairy." she nodded, as she finally placed the word. she shrugged her shoulders as she shifted through the cupboards to find a tupperware box. "do i need a reason to bake?" nesrin giggled as she looked at matty. "besides, you're not complaining are you? you know that you reap the benefits."

"miss you?" he screwed his face up as if in deep thought, dark brows pinching together. "no, no... doesn't sound like me at all." he would, of course. the apartment and its landlord would definitely miss her calming and... well, much cleaner and more civil presence. matty would feel her absence far beyond that, but he wasn't likely to voice that. "oh, a fairy." breaking off another piece to wolf down, he moved to rest one arm behind his head and plopped the remaining cookie on his chest to pick at one-handed. "makes much more sense than the grinch. i'd put money on it being a turkish fairy who likes pink." he heaved a dramatic sigh. "i suppose not. i know i sure as fuck don't," though his getting baked was much less productive, cookies were a common denominator. "you could be trying to kill me off with these for all i know -- poison, type two diabetes... the list really is endless. i wouldn't blame you, i'd just want you to be upfront about it. i won't be offended, promise."

Beck wasn't especially good at peace and quiet. He was a rambler, a yapper. He'd come from a family who was always keeping each other on their toes, gentle teasing, games with the ranch hands, 'cowboy olympics' competitions to break up the work day. Poor Matty got an earful. Beck trusted he'd tell him to shut up if it got too much. Yapping helped pass the time, and he hoped it distracted the other from whatever was on his mind that had led him to seek out equine therapy in the first place.

matty was so used to silence and being alone, particularly as a child, that sometimes he wondered what kind of miracle had occurred that allowed him command of language at all. being out in the world, he supposed, had undone at least some of the damage done in the empty halls of the family houses. truth be told, he'd rather be on the receiving end of an earful than giving one himself -- he wasn't prone to it, but in the right ( or wrong ) context it had been known to happen. with beck and the horses, he could relax in the knowledge that that he didn't really have to say a word.

" because i've been fucking you long enough to know " they were alike, perhaps in a haunting one way, one that brought serena back to his arms too many nights. " can you see well? your eye is messed up, we should go to the hospital " somehow she doubted matthew would ever enter the er, unless tied to a stretcher, so hyeon settled for the first aid kit. " i'm right most of the time, but you already know that... " sitting on the soft couch, she began preparing some gauze and antiseptic. " do you actually have a death wish? he was three of you " serena had to drag matt out of the party, getting hit in the process, something she would hold over him for weeks. " you don't think i can hold myself in a fight? besides, if i'm more of an idiot, i got it form you " lips pursed in a dramatic question. " is that your fantasy, me doing a black widow thigh takedown? " a soft giggle intertwined to his, silly, a reminder they had drank a bit too much. " be a good boy for once, stay still so i can patch you up" her left hand pressed him against the couch, sitting on matthew's lap to get a closer glimpse of his eye, serena felt her own dress raise a bit, revealing more of the skin. " i have some painkillers around, they might help " tenderly, she began cleaning the bruise.

"you've been fucking me long enough to know that i usually look absolutely stunning instead of like shit? good observation." he was sure that was not at all what she'd meant, but matty would never miss an opportunity to wind serena up. even if his head was pounding. "oh, it's fine, jesus. i'm not going to the hospital." arms crossed petulantly, chin tilted up in solid defiance of the idea as he watched warily her sorting out the supplies. as it stood, he'd endured much worse and chosen to simply sleep it off. flashing and choppy images of the fight echoed in his mind, bloody lip stinging as it was tugged into a lopsided smile, low laughter spilling forth. "he was a big fucker, wasn't he? bit surprised i lasted as long as i did -- but i was quicker than him." and thank god, too. otherwise they might never have extracted themselves from the fight. he hated to admit there was a slight tightness in his chest -- a twinge -- when he'd realised serena had been caught in the crossfire. he squinted at her. "i mean... you literally didn't hold yourself in this fight..." trailing off, playfully fearful of what she might do in response to he gestured to her similar bruise. he tapped his fingers to his chin as if in thought. "maybe. what's it to you?" matty frowned, grated by the phrasing, only to instantly forget his gripe as serena situated herself in his lap. he grinned. "are you patching me up or hooking up with me?" asked with his best impression of innocence, hands instinctively coming to rest on her waist.