❋ —— 「ɢᴏʟᴅᴇɴ ʙᴏʏ」

u touch the grass u get the gas ft. @ofxmateo

most people never expect it, but vee’s a tree hugger – and not just in the coded reddit way. what can they say? they fuck with the environment. toking in the forest and being surrounded by nature is so unparalleled and fucking beautiful that they can’t help but fall deeper in love with their one forever girlfriend: mother earth. this was the mood when they found out admin cut down the huge tree in front of forks high that they’ve spent a lot of time chilling next to. they didn’t even understand why it needed to be cut down anyway, it was stupid. tree cutters could suck their toe. so when vee got a highdea to stage their own silent protest and memorial they couldn’t… not… do that. and that’s the origin story of how on one tuesday morning while skipping first period vee was found placing a laminated picture of the lorax on the stump where their favorite tree once was. ( and yes, they did light a joint in its honor. ) they heard footsteps approaching and spun around to see mateo - or was it matias? no it was mateo, meeting his gaze all bleary eyed and baked like an apple pie. “y’know that meme? i am the lorax, i speak for the trees, and the trees say ‘can u fuckin not’? yeah, i felt that.”

mateo wasn't necessarily avoiding matias since the party, but he did want to give him a moment to breathe before tending to the messy can of worms mateo had opened. therefore, he'd decided to find his own way to school as a way to avoid imposing his presence on his brother. so, of course, it should come as a surprise to no one that he showed up LATE; it was no secret that matias was the more responsible of the two. he wasn't in a rush to get to class, though-- not that he'd understand the lecture anyway-- so when he spotted another distraction student, he casually wandered on over with curiosity piqued.

he barely caught a glimpse of the laminated lorax picture over their shoulder before they turned, his brow rising into a high arch as they spoke. simply turning his attention slightly to the right and towards the whole ass FOREST behind them, he eventually shrugged in resignation. it seemed they’d chosen their battle and was going to fight for it even if it was a lost cause, and mateo would be lying if he said he didn't find that intriguing. "you really think anyone'll pay attention?" he asked with genuine curiosity and without an ounce of belittlement. "but i guess i was drawn over here, right, so that's gotta mean something." nodding in self-assurance, he found himself easily convinced to die on vee's hill of environmental wellbeing, even if he hadn't shown any real interest before.

telltale pinpricks stung the edge of his vision and like a flash, matias hurled the cup into the sink with as much force as he could muster. the previous spark of anger that clenched in his chest had ignited into a flame, making it difficult to breathe and even harder to think. he tried to rework the cracked pieces of his mask back into place, but he just ended up with gritted teeth and folded arms, nails digging into the exposed flesh. 

“fuck you.” his voice was hard, and matias was proud at how little it wavered. he glared at mateo with his watery eyes (‘allergies’, he’d used to say to dad) and tried to focus on keeping the tears blinked back. “you think you are so much fuckin’ better than me, running around with your little shit-faced gang of clowns who peaked in elementary school and —” cutting himself off when he noticed his harsh grip had drawn blood; matias found himself relieved at the excuse. 

                         “you know what? fuckin’ forget it. no one cares, right?” he wiped at his eyes, angrily. at one point in time, matias was sure he could read mateo’s mind; this was back in middle school, back when he believed in like, vampires and shit and was still sure that ‘hey, dad’s gonna change!’ now, he wasn’t even sure if he could read mateo’s words anymore.

shooting his brother one last dirty look, he pushed through the crowd blocking the doorway with an announcement of “MOVE, LOSERS — I’M COMING THROUGH AND I HAVE TO PEE!!!” with just the right amount of fabricated slur in his words to garnish a laugh and a path through. how unfair was it that at his friend’s party, he was gonna have to be the one to cry in the bathroom. totally unfair, that’s how.

it was a single twitch of the nose that told mateo just how much he'd fucked up; a tell so minuscule that you really had to know and pay close attention to matias to see... the tears were coming. he imagined the typical brother's reaction to their sibling crying would usually come from a place of teasing, but mateo had never-- not even once-- reacted to matias crying in any other way than protective. there were times when he'd wedged himself between matias and their father; taking their father's limited and hateful words head-on as long as it meant that matias wouldn't have to endure another lecture of his 'real men don't cry' bullshit. GOD, if he heard that one more time.

mateo flinched as the cup collapsed in on itself when it collided with the sink, even though he was on the other side of the kitchen. his initial reaction-- to fight whoever was the cause of matias’ tears-- caused him to completely freeze. HE was the cause. as still as a statue, all he could do was watch the fury rise in his brother; watch him try to momentarily fight back the water threatening to spill down his cheeks. apologies caught in mateo's throat, as useless as his lifeless body. what good would 'i didn't mean it' or 'i'm sorry's do, anyway?

fuck you.

the way it was thrown at him with such hostility finally shook him out of his frozen state and caused him to shrink in on himself, instead. matias had meant it. this was no longer a bitter squabble, no, mateo had taken it a step too far and now he was face to face with the scenario he despised most. sheepishly wanting to cast his eyes downward, it took everything in him to keep eye contact and hope that matias could see the softness in his eyes-- hope that he could see how genuinely sorry he was. he remained silent as matias went on, partially because he agreed and partially because the last thing he needed to do was escalate his unhappiness further.

"-- that's not--" hesitating to try and defend himself, he eventually resigned to the fact that he shouldn't. matias was hurt. not just annoyed at his brother, but genuinely HURT. 'i care.' he wanted to scream it, regardless of the drunken bodies surrounding them that may or may not have been paying attention. it was true and it always would be-- even if he was too caught up in his own shit to admit it. but even if he did, he doubted matias would even believe him.

watching him turn to leave, mateo felt a gut-wrenching pang of guilt wash over him. what should he do-- WHAT COULD HE DO? letting him go without protest was probably the best option, so that's what he did. "i'll get my own ride home." he whispered it, far too quiet to be heard over the music or other conversations, with a heartbroken tone. he already wasn't his own biggest fan, even if he desperately tried to make it appear so, but there was nothing worse than how he felt now. he'd been the cause of matias' pain.

slamming the nearly full bottle of beer back on the counter where he'd found it, he spun around to make his own exit the opposite way matias had gone. "way to go you absolute dumbass.” he mumbled to himself and barely heard the call of “yo, mateo!" over the noise as one of the lacrosse players spotted him. "NO." he growled, pushing past his approaching body. he couldn't fake dealing with their stupidity, not now, anyway. now, he needed some air.

▬ CHARACTER PLAYLIST ↳ Mateo García-Weber [1/?]

i’ve become so numb;  mateo's party playlist with mostly blast from the pasts and a few sneaky emotional ones just for fun.

get ready for this - 2 unlimited // fireball - pitbull, john ryan // stronger - kayne west // use somebody - kings of leon // u can’t touch this - mc hammer // happier - marshmello, bastille // ridin’ solo - jason derulo // what is love - haddaway // numb - linkin park // i think we’re alone now - tiffany

it’d been at least, what, five (?) months since either of them had mentioned tomás the other one, much less heard from him. STILL, matias tried to not let mateo’s words get under his skin; he snatched the (gross) drink from his brother’s hand and used the opportunity to wrap him up closer. everyone was drinking, so it shouldn’t have bothered him so much that mateo was following suit, perhaps it was the gnawing fear that one of them would end up like someone else? besides, it’d been weeks since they’d gotten this close without it getting violent. mateo must be wasted. actually, he was pretty sure the last time he’d even been allowed to touch mateo had been after their mom had made them shake hands, back when matias had lugged all his shit down to the basement.

“anyway, you fucking idiot — ” using an oddly cheerful tone for someone who was, just moments ago, fully intending on ripping mateo a new one. “everything you just said is wrong.” he gave mateo one last condescending squeeze before stepping away, arms brandished as if about to announce a very important discovery. 

“you’re wrong, because; a; you can’t get rid of me — ” he was not, in fact, displaying an important discovery, and was just being an ass. “b AND c; (i can wrap these into one point, since your friends are so shit) your friends are the fucking worst, and they won’t save you, ‘cause last i saw — one of your midfielders (grayson?) was going at it with your goalie’s girlfriend, and FINALLY;” he leaned on the edge of sadie’s (fancy bitch) kitchen island and smirked. “i am very handsome.”

"-- hey!" mateo whined, messily attempting to rescue his snatched drink and coming up short. "i wasn't-- give it back." he huffed, making a pathetic attempt to wrench himself free of his brother's grasp out of pure annoyance. "don't you have anyone else to go smother?" a bottom lip poked out as he ineffectively tried not to visibly pout like a child who hadn't gotten their way. it wasn't as if he needed someone to save him from matias, but he began scanning the room for any of his friends-- if only one-- as opposed to previously actively avoiding them all night. honestly, he doubted the fact that any of them would help this situation whatsoever; they'd just do something stupid and further prove his twin's point.

“i'm NOT an idiot!" striking a nerve, mateo's tone elevated as his hands subconsciously tightened into fists. he wouldn't punch him-- not at the moment, at least. but something within him snapped, if only for a second, as he pushed himself further away from matias the moment he let him go. the rage dampened just as quickly as it'd come on, but his nostrils remained flared and eyebrows pulled together in frustration. "now give me back my 'up."

there was a time when he would've found comfort in his first point; that he'd always have his brother by his side, no matter the scenario. now, however, matias knew it'd only bring mateo agitation. only exhaling a sigh at the rest of his points, mateo couldn't genuinely say he was surprised. they'd get drunk, they'd do stupid shit and then tomorrow they'd all be the best of friends again. not condoning the way they'd act, but not man enough to do anything about it, mateo seemed doomed to forever stay their quiet accomplice.

"you're full of yourself," he countered, though it wasn't much of a counterpoint. "you attack my friends 'cause you're lonely," gesturing around them, "i don't see your friends anywhere?" positioning himself on the opposite side of the island, he grabbed another beer bottle as matias was out of reach and couldn't stop him. "i'd say go bother someone who cared, but obviously no one does."

As much as Waverly liked Mateo better than she did his brother, she definitely noticed some of his less desirable qualities. She supposed really those were wholly encouraged by his piece of crap friends, but she had no problem being clear about liking him and not the douchebags he called his buddies. It was inevitable to deal with their company occasionally at parties, but she was glad for the time being he wasn’t with them. Plus, he never seemed to say anything all that gross when she talked about girls. She could appreciate that. 

There was a lack of limes or lemons, so Wavy didn’t bother to use any salt, she just threw her shot back, her face scrunching up before she let out a laugh, slamming her shot glass back down. She laughed louder as she heard his words. “You know what’ll really wake us up? If we take two more.” She was an endless well of terrible decisions, but teen drinking? Well, that was almost too damn easy. Obviously the answer was always drink more, there was no better time in life to risk alcohol poisoning. “Then we find an unfinished pizza or something and see who can eat the most.” Her grin only grew more mischievous with that suggestion.

Retrieving the bottle of tequila she'd set down and already refilling their shot glasses in silent agreement, a wide grin spread across his features. "It won't even be a competition, Wavy," he shrugged carelessly, "I could eat twice as much as you easily." He had to admit, at least somewhere deep down, that this was far more entertaining than the beginning of parties spent with the guys. With basically an iv of alcohol offered right of the bat and the promise of pizza, he began to wonder why he hadn't immediately pursued her company at parties before.

Catching glimpse of a teammate staring in his peripheral, Mateo quickly downed another shot, twisting his features in discomfort before awkwardly shifting so his back was facing the aforementioned lacrosse player. Talking to Wavy wasn't a no-go as far as they were concerned, but Mateo wasn't tipsy enough to be completely carefree just yet. In truth, if he pretended not to notice his friend, he would be able to avoid them-- at least for a while.

"I'll try and fetch the food if you fill-up the glasses again?" He gruffly offered, preemptively making his way to the freezer before she had time to answer. Combing through the many Lean Cuisines, he eventually came across a frozen pepperoni pizza that was so old it had freezer burn along the edges of the box. As he returned with his bounty, he made sure to keep a wall of bodies between him and his friend in the living room. "So something tells me this'll taste like shit-- and I think it might supposedly be healthy? I dunno man, Sadie's parents are on some sort of a slimming kick or something."

she smiled kindly in return, not wanting to seem so stiff. “ramona—um, it’s no big deal. it’s just that i saw someone douse that thing in… i don’t know, something. but i’ve seen enough movies to know that anyone adding a last-minute substance to booze has to be suspicious, right?” she said. it was a little embarrassing, talking a little too much than intended, but it was either this or just walking away. ramona bowed her head and pursed her lips in embarrassment, before sighing, “anyways… yeah. maybe tell your friends about it, too. keep them safe and all.”

"ramona!" for a moment, he considered genuinely apologizing for forgetting her name, especially since if anyone would know about the annoyance of not being remembered individually, it'd be a TWIN. however, everything about her demeanor screamed she wanted it that way; or at least that she was content being just another face in the crowd. "i'm mateo." extending his hand with a smile, he was sure he'd met her before, and who properly shook hands anymore?? still, it made him feel a little better to make it seem like he didn't know her name because they were strangers.

as she rambled on, a gentle laugh spilled from his lips. he quickly froze, however, scared she'd think he'd been laughing at her and not just the situation. "wouldn't be surprised," his gaze trailed the surrounding teenagers and could think of least twenty different prime subjects. chewing on this inside of his cheek to avoid saying he didn't need to keep his friends safe since they were probably the culprits, he opted to change the subject instead. "i think i'll have a beer, then, for s-safety." he nodded with another sloppy chuckle. "i'll get you one, too." and before she had time to deny his request, he was off fetching two unopened bottles before wiggling her bottle with a devilish grin upon his return.

“We’re not cavemen, fire’s not bad. It would have been amazing.” Ophelia sighed. Stupid kid, going on about fire safety and not telling a drunk teenager mess around with a lighter  ― which he had then confiscated, despite it being her lighter.

“Maybe,” Ophelia gazed at Mateo for a moment. It was Mateo who had abandoned her first; with Matias it was more that they drifted apart as he didn’t bother to make an effort to see her anymore. “Not better than Matthew though, he is definitely the best Garcia-Weber brother.”

“I do hate them,” Ophelia took the bottle back from him with obvious distaste written across her face, “But I need a break from drinking. I didn’t manage to set those shots on fire but I still did them. So, this.” 

It was nice, spending time with Mateo after so long. There was a small group within the crowd Ophelia had run with who she considered a real, close friend and Mateo had been one of the few. Despite everything that had done down she had missed spending time with him.

“What are you doing over here anyway? I assumed you’d be out there,” Ophelia gestures around the room with her beer bottle, “Doing God knows what.”

Mateo, much like his twin, had never been one to put too much thought or concern into what was safe or not. Nodding in agreement, each nod got more and more assured as she went on. "You've convinced me... after that asshole leaves it'll be," using his thumb to drunkenly gesture between the two, "you, me, flaming shots." It was the slight intoxication and his love of fun that swept him up, not pausing to consider the fact he wouldn't normally give her the time of day, anymore. He'd be lying, though, if he said the idea of them getting into mischief together again didn't make him seriously miss her.

A genuine laugh spilled from his lips as she mentioned the illusive triplet, God, it'd been a while since he'd thought about MATTHEW. "Well, no one is better than Matthew." His tone remained even as if he was stating a well-known fact. "He's the best of 's." Memories threatened to flood his mind of the three of them; of all their adventures and their promises to escape the world together. Just look at them now... oh, how cruel time was.

"Just steer clear the punchbowls," he nodded as she glanced at the beer with repulsion, "I've been warned like-- eight hundred million times." A short silence fell over them before she asked the question that somewhat brought him back to reality. Trying to subtly scan the room and make sure all of the other lacrosse players were far too distracted by their own irrelevant conversations to notice he was TALKING to the Ophelia Sloan, he sheepishly sunk deeper into the couch, just in case. He wanted to tell her the truth; that he was mentally exhausted, but that would mean admitting his friends were shitty and he wasn't ready to do that just yet. So, instead, he nonchalantly shrugged. "I-- a short break until the room stops spinning so... much."

“mateo!” eloise called back, practically skipping over to him. her party routine tended to revolve around a cycle of socialise, dance, drink — and she was more than happy to take a break from dancing to talk to mateo. “now, are you leaning against that wall to look cool or because you can’t stand up straight?” she teased, wondering just how much he’d drunk. eloise really got a kick out of seeing her friends tipsy, and mateo was no exception.

they weren’t the closest, but he was probably one of the few people in eloise’s friendship group that she actually spoke to without having to force anything. even tonight, this was already one of the few moments where she didn’t have to fake a smile, or grease the conversation with a lot of alcohol. “have you been having fun? sadie can really throw one hell of a party.”

arching his neck to look up and to the right, he shoved his hands in his pockets and held the pose for a moment. "i'm being a model, duh." though, the pose definitely looked suaver in his head than it undoubtedly did in real life, he shot a smirk in her direction. "i'm obviously the cooler'ed'est." to be fair, the room wasn't spinning as much as it could've been-- or else his best bet would've been to spend the night here. but the comfort of his own bed called for him and he was in no position to deny such a request.

"'twas fun," he agreed with a nod, "she set the year off-- she was a bang." a light chuckle accompanied his furrowed brow as he realized that wasn't quite what he meant to say, but he let it go without addressing it further. "you look like you enjoyed yourself, too." turning the attention back to her, he finishing shoving himself off and into a standing position. "'s a shame i'm not a great dancer like you."

the facade momentarily slipped as his brow wrinkled in confusion. “you said you had a ride ba —” oh, it was an insult. a cheating one, at that; mateo knew he wasn’t able to read any deeper than calling someone’s mom gay. then again, maybe he didn’t remember and matias didn’t know him all as well as he thought. or maybe mateo was another layer down in the mental rock-paper-scissors and knew that matias didn’t know that he knew that they knew — wait, what? 

fixing back on his plasticine smile, matias wrapped an arm around his brother that was just a little too tight to be friendly. “i’m just worried about you, that’s what big brothers are for, right?” now, matias wouldn’t say he felt guilty about coming over just to fuck with mateo, but what else was he supposed to do? he was bored, and hungry, and the last four people had offered him nasty shit.

his grip softened, if only slightly, as he steered his brother towards the kitchen with a little more force than necessary. “in all of my brotherly worry, i noticed you weren’t hangin’ out with your shitty friends, so i thought i’d come say hi. maybe if they finally oust you, you’ll stop bein’ such a dick. ‘sides, i don’t want my handsome face attached to the likes of them.”

exhaling an exaggerated sigh as matias' face crumpled in confusion, mateo simply stared at him in silence until he got it. he'd understand... eventually. and right on track, his fabricated smile knit it's way back onto his lips and mateo prepared himself for more annoyance as matias' arm wrapped around him. tensing his muscles as 'big brother' slid out of his mouth with an air of superiority-- the fact he would constantly refer to him as his baby brother being something matias knew was a jab of pure irritation-- mateo let a sentence tumble out of his mouth before thinking it through. "big brothers also leave me, so why don't you do that too."

                    "how ass--asst...ASTUE of you." he grumbled, letting matias herd him towards the kitchen without any resistance. "my friends are just fine." the protest, full of words that slightly ran together, was half-hearted. he knew he'd started to believe his brother's views as of recently, but mateo was way too stubborn to ever admit it. "maybe they'll come save me from your... not handsome face."

closed starter → @ofxmateo

“So,” Ophelia dropped herself down beside Mateo on the couch, “Some asshole just stopped me from setting my shots on fire in the kitchen so I thought I’d come find some better company. Which, you know, used to be you.”

Ophelia was a few drinks in but being an ex cheerleader came with some perks. Like the fact that she could drink many a person under the table with an alcohol tolerance that came with frequent drinking. That did not mean she wasn’t feeling the alcohol but she wasn’t feeling as wasted as some of her classmates appeared to already be. Most of her decisions were just her poor impulse control finally being given the reins.

“Can you open this for me?” Ophelia dangled a bottle of beer in front of Mateo’s face. Honestly, she hated the taste, but figured there was no way she was going to skull something that tasted so bad, even if she did already have a few drinks in her. “The same aforementioned asshole also stopped me from using one of the knives from the kitchen to open it. I saw someone do it in a youtube video once, i one hundred percent could have done it.” She said indignantly. “I was a gymnast and a cheerleader, I have great co-ordination.”

Silently blinking in confusion as Ophelia plopped down on the couch next to him without reluctance, Mateo took a moment to ponder why he was the one she was actively choosing to converse with. In all honesty, it'd been far too long since they'd properly talked-- since the... incident. At the time, he didn't think too much into the fact that he could-- and did-- drop her the moment all his "friends" told him to. It shouldn't have been possible, let alone as easy as it was, to abandon a friendship that meant as much as O did to him, yet he did. Maybe it was just the alcohol affecting his thoughts, but he began to seriously wonder how the hell popularity came to mean so much to him when genuine friendships APPARENTLY meant so little?

"Fire's bad, I guess." A clumsy shrug rolled off his shoulders as he took another swig of his own bottle. "It sounds fun, though." Letting a smile spread across his lips as he imagined the kitchen counter lined with flaming shots, the guilt of her next statement didn't quite hit him as hard as it should've. Instead, he turned his attention back to her and shook his head in sluggish disapproval. "I'm better than-- always better than my brother."

“The night’s a fucking newborn baby, dude.” Waverly corrected, not even really noticing that he had been saying something else. The party was loud, she was tipsy, it was all just a big distraction from anything and everything. It was hard for her to even listen to things he wanted her to hear, but she shot him a grin and shrugged her shoulders. “None of the girls have danced on tables and no one’s gotten butt ass naked, so I guess not.” She sighed wistfully, but at least she had a bottle of booze and an eager friend to keep her entertained. 

It wasn’t like she wanted to see any of her classmates naked particularly, it was more the chaos of it all. There was nothing more chaotic in Forks than a party… or maybe, like, a Black Friday sale or something. One time, when she was a kid she went to one with her parents and just stood in the middle of adults pushing each other and trying to grab things out of each other’s arms. To this day, it was more intense than any concert she’d ever been to. “Nice, I got you.” By the grace of God, she searched for not more than two seconds before she found plastic shot glasses and before she knew it she was filling them up and holding one up to Mateo. “Cheers, bitch.” 

"They were waiting for my presence to start the show." A forged laugh spilled through his lips, much like the one he used frequently around his friends. It only took one look from Wavy, though, for him to know he could immediately drop the facade. Maybe something was wrong with him for not finding pleasure in watching topless girls dance seductively in front of him. But to be honest, the image of anyone doing such a thing didn't appeal to him, EITHER. But he'd always kept that questioning deep down as he knew the other jocks would understand as little as he did, and he didn't need a reason to be different.

With a playful wink, he clinked the plastic glass against hers as he retrieved his. Fetching the nearby salt shaker and prepping his left hand, he looked up to her once more with a quick "down the hatch," before licking off the salt and throwing back his shot glass. Exhaling a dramatic sigh after the burning liquor trailed down his throat, he shook his head once with a smile. "That'll wake you up."

luke eyed the punch bowls cautiously, trying to remember which was the good one and which one tasted like dirty dishwater.  he picked up the overly sticky ladle and, mentally wincing, poured himself a red solo cup full.  fifty-fifty shot.  here we go.  he put the cup to his lips and took a sip, nearly doing a spit take in response.  “oh, no.  no way.  that is ungodly.  absolutely not,”  he said, warning the person to his side.  “hard pass.  nope.”

it was the spray of liquid that spewed from someone's lips that caught mateo's attention as he glanced over his shoulder in curiosity. what was it about this party and its sketchy bowls of alcohol?? pausing to stare intently, it really took longer than he'd care to admit to recognize the other through his blurry, tipsy haze. ezra's kid, right... liam-- or... no, something else. "you should find wavy," he shrugged, not quite sure why he thought he should inject himself in the conversation. "she knows where the good stuff is."