Page 25 of I've Walked Where You've Been
And it was clear, now, the role that the bond had between mates. It was a sort of reassurance, a way to maintain things genuine and vulnerable even when they would have chosen otherwise.
It wasn’t easy, but itwasorganic. For once, Matty didn’t feel like he was swimming upstream.
“That is so unrealistic,” Ethan muttered from where he was pressed against Matty’s side on the bed. The laptop propped between them wobbled precariously as Matty laughed.
“It’s an action movie. It’ssupposedto be unrealistic.”
“Why, though? You’d think that the one thing they’d research would be if a fall would break someone’s ankle, and that fall woulddefinitelyhave broken that guy’s ankle.”
“I think it’s less that they didn’t do the research and more that they just don’t care.”
Ethan shook his head like he couldn’t understand how someone could possibly not want to do any research. “That’s insane.”
“Okay but, like, in movies, maybe people want reality extended a little? Want to step a little beyond what’s possible? Not enough that it seems completely ludicrous to them, but just enough to be, like…what’s it called? When it’s like you leave reality for a bit?”
“Escapism?”
“Right! People know it’s not real, and that’s okay, ’cause it’s supposed to be more entertaining that way.”
There was a pause. “I guess…” Ethan said begrudgingly.
“And anyway, you’d be surprised what stupid stuff you can do without breaking a bone.”
“I’ve never done anything more athletic than what was forced on me in P.E., and that was bad enough, so I wouldn’t know.”
Matty snorted. “My precious little cave-dweller,” Matty cooed, wrapping his arms around Ethan, ignoring that the laptop got knocked sideways. “My little bed dumpling.”
“Oh, my God.” Ethan laughed, squirming. “Get away from me.”
“My perfect little research brain. My gorgeous little pile of neurons.”
“I’m going to kick your ass.”
Matty laughed. “Pleasedo. I would actually love to see that.”
“Jerk.”
Matty muffled his grin in Ethan’s neck, kissing him there before pulling away. “I used to set up a ramp on the driveway of my old house and try to bike up it. Only it was the shittiest ramp ever, and I kept almost dying when it broke in half.”
“Oh great, my bondmate is crazy.”
“I never broke anything, though! Is the moral of the story,” Matty protested, ignoring the way the words ‘my bondmate’ lit him up inside. “We’re gonna get into so much trouble together. I’m gonna get you intosomuch trouble.”
“I think you meanI’mgoing to getyouout of so much trouble.”
Matty hummed for a moment, pretending to think. “Yeah, nope. Definitelymegettingyouinto trouble.”
On the laptop, something exploded. Neither of them even twitched towards it.
“That’s it,” Ethan proclaimed. “I’m leaving. I won’t stand for my reputation being sullied in this manner.” He made to roll away, but Matty wrapped all his limbs around him, keeping him close.
“Never! This is where you live and die now.”
“Let me go,” Ethan demanded, trying and failing to sound stern amidst bursts of laughter.
They struggled playfully, Matty letting Ethan go just enough to pull him back again until they were a tangle of limbs, Ethan a crushing, welcome weight on top of Matty.
“I win,” Ethan crowed even though his original goal was to escape. He was panting a little, grinning brightly at Matty, cheeks flushed.
