Page 18 of I've Walked Where You've Been
And, maybe the best thing of all, he smiled every time he saw Matty—a bright thing that made the bond glow.
Matty was starting to think he’d wasted a lot of time resenting Ethan instead of empathising with him. He couldn’t change the past, but the future was looking brighter by the day.
**********
This time around, Matty was determined to include Ethan in things instead of leaving him in the periphery. Ethan always made sure to go to all of his games, to invite him out with his friends, and Matty tried to reciprocate, but he wanted to do somethingbigger.
“Hey, so,” Matty said, waiting for Ethan to look at him from where he was sitting by the desk before continuing. “Apparently there’s an awesome aquarium like a thirty-minute bus ride from here? We both don’t have classes on Thursday afternoons, so I thought…maybe we could go this Thursday? Or next Thursday. Or, I mean, any Thursday, if you want to—”
“Yeah.” Ethan mercifully cut him off. “That’d be awesome, actually. I was meaning to go when I could, but didn’t really want to go alone…”
“Dude, you should totally ask me if you want to do something and don’t wanna be alone. Or, I mean, I guess maybe you don’t wanna hang out with me sometimes, but if you do—”
“No! I mean, no, it wasn’t that. I just…no, it’s cool. Thanks for asking. I can do this Thursday if you want.”
“Yeah. Cool. I’ll figure out bus times.”
“I can help if you—”
“Nah, it’s cool. Don’t sweat it.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
They both returned to their work, Matty congratulating himself on the most awkward conversation anybody had ever had.
Did people always have such a difficult time talking with their bondmate? He seriously doubted it. Maybe it just came with the territory when you got chained to someone for life at nine years old.
Still, the trip, by Matty’s standards, was a success.
Matty managed to choose the right bus route and get them there at a good time, Ethan trailing behind him a lot more faithfully than he would have guessed. No one was going to point at Matty and say he was the organised one out of the two, after all.
They were pretty quiet during the bus ride, letting the rumble of the bus shake them from side to side, bumping shoulders occasionally—not that Matty was paying that much attention. He’d left Ethan the window seat, and Matty mostly stared at Ethan’s profile.
Again, though, he wasn’t paying much attention to Ethan. There just wasn’t that much to look at besides his straight nose and cutting cheekbones, the pink of his lips, the way his brown hair was cut short and neat whereas Matty’s was long enough to curl at the nape of his neck.
“Damn, this building is huge.” Matty whistled as they hopped off the bus. The structure wasn’t particularly tall, but it was long as fuck—which made sense, Matty guessed, if it was going to hold a shit-ton of sea life. “Hope the animals have plenty of space to swim in. That would suck if they didn’t. I mean, I guess you can’t compare a tank to the fucking ocean.”
“I mean…I’m sure they’re treated well?”
“Yeah, maybe they like having buddies to swim with,” Matty said as he opened the door, stepping inside the aquarium. “Maybe they’re like, ‘Holy shit, is that a starfish? I’ve never seen one of those before!’”
Ethan laughed, walking in after him. “‘Fuck dude, what’s that furry thing doing here? What even is that?’”
“And then they see a human and they’re like, ‘Fuck that thing is ugly, what’s wrong with its tail?’”
Ethan laughed again, and Matty couldn’t help but focus on the bond and the way it lit up happily.
Ethan pointed towards the ticket booth. “I think we need to go there.”
“Oh, nah. I already got them—I’ve got a code on my phone.”
“Wait, you already bought them? But…aren’t they expensive? Why?”
“Because I invited you, shut up, let’s go.” Matty strode to the entry, hoping he wasn’t blushing too bad.
