"How're you feeling?" Edward asked, the children running under and over things to get their coats from the waiting room with Audrey. He pressed himself against a column, making sure not to accidentally touch anything by crossing his arms over his chest.
Matthew hummed. His hand seemed glued to Lloyd's cold, silver body. "Tired." He considered his words for a moment. "I still feel...unfocused, but I don't think that's the right word. Like...like I'm still bent out of shape, and..." He drummed his fingers on the metal. "...yeah."
Edward nodded. He pressed his back against the supports of a car lift. "Thank you for asking me to drive you."
"I don't trust the Prius." Or the Civic. He hated both.
"I know," Edward laughed. "But still. Thanks for inviting me."
"It was just a drive."
"I believe your words were, and I quote, 'Would you want to come see my car in the garage?'"
Matthew flushed. "I don't sound like that."
"Maybe not," Edward laughed, "but you still asked."
He raised a brow. "Would you believe me if I said it was just for the ride?"
Edward considered the question for a moment, his green eyes lingering for longer than Matthew was comfortable with. "Probably," he finally whispered. "To be fair, I would've also believed you if you said you just wanted to get out of the hotel for a while."
Matthew swallowed. He glanced away.
"No bullshit this time. Feels like we're past it at this point. How're you feeling?"
Closing his eyes, he sighed. "I'm...tired. The kids aren't used to being in a hotel room, I'm not used to having all my stuff in the same place as everyone. I'm not used to doing housework, and I'm not used to...coordinating things from far away. No one's used to the hour drive to Brookfell. It's all just a big..." He wrung his hands together, stretching and pulling them like taffy. "...and the worst of it is that I want to keep doing the work I'm doing, but I can't – I don't want to do it anymore, especially with Audrey having discredited herself the way she has." He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. "I just feel so useless right now."
"Has Yang reached out to you at all?"
He shook his head. "Not really. He sends an email every so often, but he's...been staying out of things. He keeps it cold and professional." Like how things were in the beginning, though Matthew wasn't wholly sure if he was grateful for that. "Everything's a mess right now."
"Need I remind you we're all messes, Mr. Robinson?" Edward asked.
The ease with how he said his surname made Matthew's skin crawl. Still, he frowned and countered, "I doubt us being messes counts for the situation, though."
Edward nodded. "Anything I can do to help?"
Matthew shook his head. "No. I..." He sighed again, the sound like a horse neighing. "...just want this all to be all over and done with. To move on and...find something else."
"I'm surprised you've stuck around for this long. I would've bounced already."
"I'm here for the kids," Matthew said. "Not him."
"I suppose those aren't truer words," Edward said, smiling so easily.
He swallowed, sighing. "I don't want to leave them," he whispered, eyes turning towards the open door to the waiting room. "They're, weird and amazing, and I love them so much, but I don't want to think about leaving them behind. I don't want to think about what could happen after I leave."
"The guy did a bad thing."
"I know, but...why should they have to suffer for his sins?"
Edward's eyes moved down before returning to Matthew's face. His stare was soft, aching to fully understand.
Matthew ran his down Lloyd's fender, turning away. "You didn't have to come, Mr. Reyes," he muttered. "I could've driven the awful little Prius and suffered with front-wheel drive, cursing the world and making everyone sick." He paused, softly smirking. "You didn't have to come."
Edward shrugged. "I didn't, but I wanted to. I take the things I offer seriously, I hope you realize." He glanced back towards the waiting room, watching as Eli explained, again, what a Bunyip was to the receptionist. "And you're right; your kids are weird and kind of amazing. I like them. Even Audrey." He turned back to Matt. "Not many people can be friends with their exes."
"We're not friends. It's..." Complicated. Weird and gray with no clear-cut answer. With everything that had happened, Matthew was certain they were less colleagues and more "uncomfortable acquaintances". Never would he consider them 'friends' after this. "...a long story."
"I know," Edward chuckled. "It usually is with you, Mr. Robinson."
Matthew raised a brow. "You really are just throwing out the thinly-veiled insults today, aren't you?"
He laughed, his green eyes sparkling. "I swear, I'm not. I just..." His smile softened. "I don't know. I feel like, in spite of everything, I know you better now. You're not just some cute guy who almost stabbed me at the grocery store. You're...Matt."
Turning away, Matthew could feel his ears growing warm.
"But, thank you for keeping me updated on Lloyd, too. I asked, and you did." Edward bobbed his shoulders. "I really appreciate it. I – Oh! And, aaaaaaaand...I picked a name for my truck!" He threw his arms outstretched, hands shaking like a cheerleader. "Want to know it?"
Matthew raised a brow. "I feel like I might regret this."
"You probably will," he laughed. "I...decided to name her Grace. I was going to name it Matt, because it's a little beat up, shifts real nice, and is real great to look at – "
"Wow, you just can't stop yourself, can you?" Matthew found himself smirking.
" – but...you were right." Edward glanced down, an easy smile still on his face. "I wasn't being sentimental enough. No, I was just being stupid. I like her, but I kept reminding myself over and over about all that money my dad sank into her, the money I was sinking into her, and not much else." He met Matthew's stare again. "She isn't a 'Petunia'. She...just, she's a 'Grace'. I look at her, and I think about how stupid I was that I didn't notice it." Edward shrugged again. "I just wasn't listening to her, really."
Matthew gave up; he snorted, covering his smile. "I'm not sure whether to be offended or surprised you listened to me."
He shrugged. "I told you. You're...so smart, driven, and cute."
He was tempted to remind Edward that he forgot to add, "And I hate myself." He didn't.
Edward stared, pushing off from the car lift support. He swallowed, a contemplative look on his face, chased away only with a light chuckle, that easy smile returning. "...you're confusing, Mr. Robinson."
"...Matt."
He cocked a brow. "First name basis? Already? You've scandalized me." Edward grinned.
Matthew held the other man's gaze. "I believe you said something about me being confusing."
Edward's easy smile stayed. Grew at Matthew's response. The gentle flush of pink adorned his cheeks. "I feel like we need to be somewhere private for this conversation. This feels so...personal."
"I invited you to, basically, at a car hospital to see my beloved Bug, and you told me you named your catfish of a truck. What's personal about that?"
Edward laughed again. "She does have that face, doesn't she?"
"Matt!" Lilly called. "Stop talking! I wanna get home for Mr. Auborine's amputation!"
"And I need to sterilize!" Eli shouted. "Her bear's got three cases of aneptocymia and I need to save his life!"
Matthew sighed, covering his eyes as he snorted again.
"'Aneptocymia'?" the other man asked.
"Most definitely not real."
Edward tugged gently on Matthew's arm. "Okay, I don't know what they're talking about but I need to see this."
Glancing back towards Lloyd, Matthew mouthed, "I'll be back, I promise." and followed Edward back towards his catfish-fronted truck, now covered in a light dusting of snow.
He never realized Edward had a sprinkling of freckles on the back of his neck.