The whispering had gotten worse. Every time Mattheo walked down a corridor, or sat by himself in class, he could hear them whispering about him. They didn't even try to hide it. It's like they wanted him to know that they despised him, despite him not having any choice. It's not like he chose to be his fathers son.
It was raining heavily, and the wind was picking up. The sound of wind screeching through the hollow halls and the heavy rain against the glass windows made it impossible to sit in peace and quiet at the library. Mattheo shut his book with a loud thud. A few other students shot him a glare but none of them said anything.
He was trying to focus on his Potions homework, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He hadn't spoken to Lorenzo in a couple of days and every time he saw one of the other boys, they would turn their head or walk away. Blaise was the only exception.
Mattheo grabbed his things and tossed them into his bag before exiting the library in a hurry. He made his way towards the dungeons where he hoped his dorm-mates would be sprawled out on a few couches, but to his dismay, they were nowhere in sight. Mattheo took a deep breath before entering their shared dorm. It was exactly like he had expected, all of them were in there. Theodore was sitting at his desk, head in a notebook with a quill in his hand. Draco and Blaise were discussing quidditch maneuvers, most likely because Draco insisted that they had to, now that they couldn't practice due to the weather. Lorenzo was laying on his bed, the back of his head resting on his hands.
The room got eerily quiet when Mattheo slowly closed the door behind him. He didn't even look up as he passed Draco and Blaise on his way to his bed. He threw his bag by the bottom of his bed, sliding it underneath with his foot before slowly laying himself down on his side.
Draco looked at Blaise in disgust before shaking his head and grabbing his robe. Mattheo felt his heartbeat speed up and suddenly he was standing up next to his bed. "Wait!" He called out, catching Draco off guard. He glanced back before turning around with a sigh.
"I can't go on like this," Mattheo said slowly, his eyes meeting Lorenzo's who gave him a reassuring nod. Theo let go of his quill, letting it fall down onto an empty page, ink splattering everywhere. Mattheo's voice was laced with desperation and the hurt was easily shown in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you."
"I was just so scared that if you knew who I was, you would have never even spoken to me in the first place," Mattheo explained, trying to get through to Draco and Theo. "And I don't know. I guess it doesn't help that I don't really know how to do the whole best friends thing," he added and looked down, hoping someone would interject something to drown him out of the absolute embarrassment he felt. It's not like the boys couldn't have guessed that Mattheo hadn't tried the whole friendship thing before, but it still hurt to say it out loud.
"I'm sorry too." Theo stood up from his chair, looking at Mattheo with a sad smile. "I shouldn't have done that to you. I was just so angry and confused. I felt like I had to get back at you and I didn't realize how much it would hurt you."
Mattheo froze and looked at him.
Theo took a deep and shaky breath. "This is all my fault," he added, "all the things that have happened to you here, are because of me."
Mattheo had been willing to forgive Theo for some time now. He'd thought about it for hours on end but inevitably couldn't even force himself to stay mad about it. Sure it had hurt him, and a lot at that, but Theo had his reasons. He wasn't raised to face his mistakes. He was raised to ignore them.
"Theo," Mattheo whispered, stopping himself from reaching out and placing his hand on Theodore's shoulder.
"No. Don't." Theo closed his eyes in mere frustration. When he opened them again, he continued speaking. "The bullying. The rumors. They were all because of me. No one would have known if I hadn't said anything."
There was a moment of silence, the only sound being a sniffle from Theo, who frustratedly ran a hand through his hair.
"—if I had just kept my stupid fucking mouth shut, none of this would've happened!"
Lorenzo jumped at the sudden outburst and Draco closed his eyes. He swallowed thickly, not knowing what to say or do. Blaise stared with worried eyes at his friend who seemed to be losing himself right before them.
Theo's lip quivered slightly and it was very evident that he was upset about it. He looked down at the ground momentarily, taking a deep breath.
"Theo listen to me," Mattheo said, his voice rather stern despite his heart being practically in his throat, "I forgive you."
Theo turned his attention to Mattheo, watching carefully. His jaw was clenched and his nostrils flared. "They were bound to find out eventually okay? It doesn't matter."
Theo sucked in a breath. "It matters to me."
Mattheo nodded. "Of course." He took a step towards him. "But I forgive you, okay?"
The taller boy shook slightly. He stilled momentarily. "For Merlin's sake," he whispered, his voice trailing off as he stepped forward and embraced his friend in a hug. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he rested his cheek against the slightly shorter boy's shoulder.
"You know I really despised you right?" Mattheo said as a joke, a smile evident on his face as he pulled his head back a little to get a look at his friend. Theo let out a muffled laugh. "Yeah well, I despised you too."
Draco coughed loudly, forcing the two boys apart. They both stared at him. "But what about everything that happened? Are we just going to forget and move on?"
Mattheo looked at Lorenzo briefly, then turned back to Draco.
Blaise sighed. "Malfoy, cut it out, will you?"
The platinum-blonde huffed, crossing his arms. "He'll come around eventually."
Lorenzo couldn't help but smile. "We're back!" He giggled as he sprung forward, almost tumbling straight into Theo who caught him from falling. Mattheo laughed, shaking his head at them.
Once the wind and heavy rain had passed, the snow returned. It wasn't unusual for it to be snowing in February, but it wasn't necessarily something that Mattheo was used to. When he was younger, he didn't spend an awful lot of time outside and especially not in the snow. His father hated the snow, but oh how Mattheo loved it.
He picked up a handful of the white mass and squeezed it until it was hard and round. Mattheo elbowed Theo who was walking next to him, nodding his head at Draco and Lorenzo who were a few feet in front of them. Theo's grin widened and he smirked, already knowing what Mattheo was planning to do.
Mattheo threw the ball right at Draco, hitting him straight in the back of his head. The snow splattered everywhere like broken glass and Draco turned around with fury in his eyes. "Which one of you imbeciles was it?" He yelled, stomping towards them.
The dirty blonde and brunette looked right at each other, then at Draco. Each of them pointed a finger at the other. "It was him."
Draco narrowed his eyes at his friends and just as he was about to open his mouth, another snowball hit him in the side of his face. They all turned their heads, mouths agape, catching Blaise with snow in his hands and a big smirk on his face. "Oops?"
With that, Draco launched himself forwards, no longer wanting to hold himself back, and so the fight had begun. Lorenzo had found himself in the middle, tossing snow left and right to hit whoever got in his way. Draco was going after Blaise and Mattheo and Theo had teamed up to cause as much chaos as possible.
Any other students who walked by, looked at them as if they were mental, but none of them seemed to care.
"Oh Berkshire," Theo chuckled, licking his lips as he slowly approached Lorenzo who had ended up on the ground, "this isn't looking well for you, mate."
Mattheo joined his side, smirking at their mutual friend who was begging for his dear life. "Please don't," Lorenzo pleaded, clasping his hands together in an attempt to sound even remotely convincing. The sleeves of his jacket fell down his arms, and Mattheo noticed the same chain of silver he had seen on Theo and was wearing himself. "Wait," he paused, looking at the bracelet, "we all got one?"
Theo looked at Mattheo with confusion in his eyes. "Mate, what are you on about?"
Mattheo nodded towards Enzo. "The gift from Draco?"
As if on cue, Draco and Blaise stepped up on either side of the two boys, a smile of triumph on Draco's face. "What's going on?" Blaise questioned, wiping snow off his face with his hands.
Lorenzo got himself off the ground, standing up in front of them. He reached his hand forward, looking down at his wrist. Mattheo copied his motions. "We all have one," Enzo said quietly, watching as Draco, Blaise and Theo reached forward as well. "Of course we do," Draco replied, looking up at Mattheo with a smile on his face.
A/N
They're back!! This is not a drill! THEY ARE BACK!!
I felt horrible that I made Christmas so sad and depressing so I added another snowball scene to make the remaining of winter a little more fun. Anyways, speaking of, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate) and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
I would once again love to hear some thoughts, especially on the apology and the end. I know the apology seem a bit over the top, but I thought it was important to show how much it affected Theo, even though we mostly follow Mattheo's actions and thoughts.
I love you guys and I truly appreciate all the love and support both here and on my TikTok. It's absolutely insane to me that this story means so much to some of you. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.