Matt & Topher

Playing Catch Up

[L. McRiley]

I have notes for you from Friday. I'm downstairs and coming up

Topher heaved himself out of his chair to take the chain off the door and flip the deadbolt back. Liam, huffing slightly, came in about half a minute later.

"There's always coffee on at your house, isn't there?" Liam shed his boots and other outerwear, checking the couch before he draped his coat over the arm of it.

"On the counter. I'm impressed none of us have had a heart attack by now."

"You mean you're impressed you haven't had a heart attack yet." He took a mug from the drying rack and then opened the fridge for the creamer. "How's the boyfriend?"

"Currently taking a Vicodin-induced nap with at least one of the cats." Topher found the specific notebook he needed and his preferred note-taking pen, and set up at the kitchen island.

Liam took his own notebook out and found the right sticky note along the edge. "Professor Becker asked where you were. I said you were taking your roommate to have his wisdom teeth out. Didn't want to out you to everybody in our class."

"I appreciate that." Topher didn't mind if Professor Becker knew — he'd met the man's husband before at a department reception — but he'd rather not announce it to all and sundry. Not like that. And certainly not without talking with Matty first.

He helped himself to his second cup of coffee for the day and slid onto a stool at the island where he could keep an eye on the almost-closed bedroom door.

"It's a good thing I like Becker as a professor because otherwise I think I'd hate this class," Liam said. "Though it's nowhere near as shitty as that other group project thing that we're doing."

"That's the Topher and Liam show, if we'd like to be honest about it." Topher pushed his sleeves up to his elbows. "At least it's not court case after court case after court case."

Liam flipped his notebook around and pointed. "Starts here. Let me know if you don't understand something."

"Your handwriting isn't as shit as Devan's, so that's a bonus."

"Nobody's handwriting is as absolute shit as Dev's." He leaned out and squinted at the front of the fridge. "Is that a chemistry exam?"

"Yes."

"Yours?"

"Yes." Topher side-eyed Liam. "That's an A minus exam. There was a bit of a curve."

Liam's eyebrows rose though he wisely didn't say anything.

"Shut up and drink your coffee," Topher said, the tips of his ears hot. He pointed to a line in Liam's notes and asked, "Is this a reference from last class last week?"

"Yeah. Goes back to that thing you had to explain to me after because it didn't click."

It took several seconds for Topher to remember what exactly that was, and when he did he wanted to shove his pen up his nose. Why did some of this shit have to be so damn complicated?

There was a thump from somewhere behind him.

Liam looked at Topher who looked at the bedroom door.

"Could just be a cat," Topher said. "Monster was in there with him."

"That's the other one, then?" He pointed toward the water dish.

"Yes, that's Fidget. He'll happily cuddle with you if you pick him up."

He slid immediately off the stool to do so, much to Topher's amusement. Liam could be a grumpy, sharp-mouthed asshole when he wanted to be — he had a fairly blank resting face and little tolerance for idiocy — but if presented with an animal or in the presence of children he was smiles and sunshine.

Their group of friends and Murphy, his twin, were also exceptions to his usual demeanor.

There was another thump.

Topher checked his watch. There was a chance Matty was awake, though he'd lately been doing a thing where he surfaced for a few minutes, got comfortable again, and then immediately dropped right back off.

Sleep was the best thing for him, really.

"You're a fluffy kitty," Liam murmured, returning to his stool with Fidget in his lap. "Look at those eyes. And those ear tufts."

Smiles and sunshine over a kitten.

"Toof?"

Topher turned sharply to find Matty blinking sluggishly at him, the bottom half of his face horrendously swollen. He was in a pair of sleep shorts and a long-sleeve shirt, his hair every which way.

"Hey, sweetheart." He looked a little closer at Matty's expression. "Everything okay?"

Matty gazed vacantly at the living room and whined deep in his throat.

"Matthew?" Liam stood, Fidget still in his arms, and Topher had never heard him speak so gently. "Do you know where you are?"

"Yeah." He fidgeted. "Is...s'my sist'r?"

"Effie?" Topher asked.

"Was Effie here?" Liam murmured.

"Yesterday. After her last class." Topher approached him slowly. "Effie's on campus, Matty. Mary's in Portland with Pete, and Claire's in Rochester." There was clearly something making him agitated, and Matty didn't seem to be able to articulate it. "Do you want to call one of them? Or call home?"

Matty nodded. "H'm."

"Sure. Here." He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled the Winchester's landline. Thankfully, Victoria picked up on the third ring. "Hey, it's Topher. Matty's...I'm not entirely sure where his head is, but can you talk to him?"

She agreed. Topher handed Matty the phone and reminded him to be careful of his cheek. Matty wandered back toward the bedroom and, gradually, Topher watched the tension leak out of his shoulders.

"Might have been a nightmare," Liam said quietly. "They gave Murph Vicodin after he had his appendix out and he had nightmares. That's really the only reason he stopped taking it and took the extra strength ibuprofen, instead."

"Could be." Topher rubbed at the stubble on his jaw. He hadn't shaved since Thursday and wasn't sure he was going to manage it before Monday.

Matty, looking much more cognizant if still sleepy, shuffled across the floor and gave Topher his phone back. Slowly, like he was giving Topher plenty of time to back out, he went in for a hug. Topher stroked his free hand up and down Matty's back.

"Better?" Topher murmured.

"Yeah," he breathed, trying to snuggle in.

"I've got to get some more notes from Liam, and then I'm all yours." Otherwise Matty would get him somewhere flat and that would be it for the evening. Topher didn't mind, he just had some things to do first.

Matty picked his head up. "Li'm?" His forehead wrinkled. "Hi?"

"You hungry?" Liam asked.

He shrugged, and shuffled over to sit on an empty stool. Liam promptly handed him Fidget, and Matty held him close. Fidget loved the attention, and purred happily.

"Notes, Topher," Liam chided softly. "It's not like I haven't handled Murphy in this kind of headspace before." He turned to Matty. "Ice packs?"

Matty nodded.

Topher went back to copying Liam's notes, occasionally focusing on the soft conversation between Liam and Matty. Matty's speech was still mumbled and slurred, though he had more movement in his jaw now, late in the day on Saturday, than he had previously.

There was a disgruntled sound from the floor, followed almost immediately by Liam's soft, "Hello, gorgeous. Come here, I'll pet you."

Matty laughed quietly; Topher's chest warmed.

"This is Monster, right? His eyes are great. He just snuggles in, doesn't he?"

"Get stressed out, snuggle the cat," Topher said. "We should get that screen printed and hang that somewhere in our living room."

Liam snorted. Matty laughed again, and Topher breathed easier.