This is my gift for @dancyon as part of the @aftgexchange with the prompt “the twins bonding.” I had fun writing the scene with the twins before I realized that I needed to include some context, hence the super silly and kind of extraneous part with the Monsters + Matt in the beginning. I really hope you enjoy this – I haven’t written a lot about the twins before, so I’m kind of nervous about posting the fic,,,, I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s!
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Like many other mishaps in Aaron’s life, this one starts with Nicky exclaiming an “Oh!” like he’s received an epiphany.
Aaron doesn’t look up from his laptop. Matt does.
“How about we play something instead of watching a movie?”
“You mean like video games?” Matt asks.
“I mean like something we don’t normally do,” Nicky says, “like rock-climbing, or paintball.”
“You don’t like rock-climbing,” Aaron reminds him without tearing his gaze away from the physiology article he’s reading, “or anything that requires physical exertion.”
“Aaron Michael,” Nicky says, scandalized, “need I remind you that I am a collegiate athlete.”
“We played paintball last year, before the girls left,” Matt recalls, fondness coloring his voice and wistfulness filling his eyes, “it was a lot of fun.”
“Yeah, it was,” Nicky agrees. “Well, minus the part where Neil single-handedly shot and eliminated most of us. Remind me to never give the kid a real gun.”
“Any other ideas?” Matt asks, slurping on his can of beer.
Aaron groans. “Why are you encouraging him?”
“How about bowling? We did that a couple of times before.”
“You know I hate bowling,” Aaron asserts, unable to help himself.
“How about laser tag?” Matt suggests.
Nicky grimaces. “Let’s not play anything that requires shooting. Neil is going to kick all of our asses.”
“Why is he suddenly included in our plans?” Aaron asks, lips twisted like he ate something bad.
“Don’t be a spoilsport,” Matt chides, playfully kicking Aaron’s shin, “it’ll be fun to have all of us if we decide to do something.”
“Even Kevin and my brother?” Aaron asks dryly.
Matt winces.
Nicky sits up straighter, legs folded underneath him on the couch, his excitement rising. “How about roller blading?”
“I still have bruises from when we went last time,” Matt says sadly.
“Miniature golf?” Nicky tries.
“We’re banned from all three mini golf courses in the city,” Aaron states bluntly.
Nicky inhales sharply, like he just realized something.
“Oh no,” Aaron says.
“What is it?” Matt inquires, sitting sideways on his chair at the desk to look at Nicky.
some things matt boyd has definitely tweeted at some point:
• i love being 6’4" until i smash my head off the burger king doorframe
• * dan doesn’t know where i am * * all the musical snowmen in the store start singing * * dan immediately knows where i am *
• NICKY WAS LYING I NEVER EVEN MET A FOOT FETISHIST
• not to be dramatic or anything but neil josten is the best person i’ve ever met
• WAIT I HAVE ENOUGH FRIENDS TO DRESS UP AS MARIO CHARACTERS AND GO GOKARTING
our boy matt is like a year behind the girls right?? so there’s a whole year where it’s just him and Andrew’s lot (and the freshmen) and yeah come on I know he’s an actual puppy and tries to get along with the newbies but like,,, you know there’s that /one/ snide remark or eyeroll from that one freshman that finally sends him over the edge and into the boys’ dorm. Everyone looks up. “What the fuck do you want,” Andrew asks. Matt says nothing. He falls into the beanbag that Nicky offers him and resigns himself to the fact that the monsters are his new squad for the rest of his university life. Monster Matt.
He’s probably super excited tbh. Like finally, this is his chance, he’s going to be /cool/. But then he realised that all the monsters do on their down time is play video games and eat icecream and mimic Kevin in high pitch British accents and it’s low key better than anything he ever imagined…
Matt is the good kid trying to play bad-boy and the monsters think it’s hilarious? Nicky does, if anything. Matt goes out by himself to buy clothes for Eden’s Twilight the first time the monsters decide to take him along – Aaron ditched them for Katelyn, that time – and he looks like someone dumped a ton of leather on a poodle.
Also, Matt has a truck, so Andrew pretends he lost his keys every time one of the other monsters need to go somewhere and he doesn’t want to take them. Neil never takes out his, because he knows from experience Andrew will throw them out the window if he tries. Matt gets therefore roped along for every late night alcohol-and-junk-food trip for Nicky, accompanies Aaron to get Katelyn from the airport after breaks -and they’re adorable?!- and listens to Kevin anxiously rambling when he takes him over to Coach’s when Abby decides is time for father-son bonding x-activity, and he loves it all.
Low-key Matt keeping an eye on his adoptive brother Neil and realizing that, wow, he and Andrew are actually a good couple? They respect each other so much? They bicker like an old marred couple? So one night he calls Dan and is, no, listen, we got the wrong one, it’s Andrew we should be worried about, Neil is going to get him a heart attack if he keeps antagonizing people!
Nothing but My Aching Soul 