Mateo Rodriguez (elgatonegro) wrote in supernextdoor, @ 2012-07-18 23:01:00 |
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Entry tags: | 10.19.11, darcy, darcy and mateo, mateo |
He's using you...
Who: Mateo and Darcy
What: Extreme embarrassment and oversharing. And then fighting.
Where: Rodriguez residence
When: Wednesday evening
Warnings: Um...NSFW. But not in the way you think.
Yep, school officially sucked. That wasn’t something Mateo thought often; uncool as it was, he enjoyed most of his classes. Right now, though, it sucked big time. Chloe had said she didn’t care if people thought they’d slept together after Homecoming; but some of the rumors flying around about them - ok, mostly about her, and what a slut she was - had Mateo growling and fighting the urge to shove every damn gossip in the school into a locker. He couldn’t afford to have a suspension on his record if he wanted a scholarship - that was the only thing that had helped him keep his temper. By the time he’d gotten home on Wednesday he was about ready to kill someone. And he couldn’t even relax by going to see Chloe, because she was working. His life officially sucked.
Dinner had been awkward - his dad was away on business, Ana at a friend’s house, so it had just been Mateo and his mom. Who of course had tried to work out why Mateo looked like he wanted to punch someone. Getting up from the table with a ‘God, mom, will you just drop it?’ he’d stormed off to his room halfway through dessert, slamming his bedroom door and flopping down on the bed. Christ.
An hour later, he was a little more calm, though just as frustrated. He was still angry that people had made those assumptions about Chloe. Especially since, despite temptation, he and Chloe hadn’t done anything. Well, hadn’t had sex, at least. Just about, and they’d come damn close on Sunday night...and god, even thinking about it made him hard. Locking his bedroom door, Mateo lay down on his bed, propped up with pillows behind his back. He popped the button on his jeans, sliding a hand inside to squeeze his cock through his boxerbriefs, teasing himself. He didn’t have anything else to do tonight, after all. He grabbed lotion and tissues from the pile of crap beside his bed, shoving his underwear and jeans down to mid-thigh. Slicking up his hand, he let his eyes drift closed, lower lip caught between his teeth as he imagined Chloe there with him, pretended it was her fingers wrapped around his cock, rather than his own...
When Darcy got home from her piano lesson, she went upstairs, dropped her bag by her door, grabbed an apple from the kitchen and headed out the back door all while ignoring her mother's protests that she should come back and eat an actual meal. Rolling her eyes, she just ignored it. Her mother would stop eventually; she always did. Ducking under the weeping cherry tree in the middle of her yard, Darcy followed the simple, well worn path from her house to his and then, apple firmly lodged between her teeth, started climbing the ladder that had become a permanent fixture. When they were younger, there had been talk of taking it down, but they always won out eventually.
Teo's light was on, and she could tell that his window was open like normal so this shouldn't pose too much of a problem. Darcy never called or knocked or gave much or any other kind of warning as to when she was going to drop in. Mateo was a cat so surely he could figure it out on his own. When she reached the top, she swung her legs in first. "Hey," she said and then looked up. Which was the mistake of the decade.
What she was was decidedly the number one thing she never wanted to see her best friend--practically brother--doing. It wasn't the first time, but it was never anything she got used to. She was tempted to throw her apple at his head, either of them. Closing her eyes, she took the apple out of her mouth, thankful that she hadn't dropped it. "And hello to little Teo as well."
Mateo was utterly oblivious to the approach of his best friend, too wrapped up in the images flickering behind closed eyelids, his hand almost a blur on his cock as he neared completion. Of course, just as he was about to come, hips rising off the bed, he heard an all-too-familiar voice. “Jesus fucking Christ, Darcy!” He yelled, nearly falling off the bed as he tried to cover himself up, grabbing the covers and dragging them over his crotch, his hard-on wilting immediately. “Would you learn to knock? Please? God...” He was blushing furiously - no matter how many times Darcy had walked in on him jerking off, she still never warned him she was coming over. And it was still just as embarrassing. He fumbled under the covers, tugging up his underwear and pants, cock and hand still slimy with lotion. Wiping his hand on the otherwise unused tissues, he sat up, glaring at Darcy.
Keeping her hand over her eyes, she just shook her head, though whether the gesture was meant for him or just in general no one would ever know, and then took a bite out of her apple. Despite what anyone else thought this was decidedly not how she wanted to see her best friend. Ever. Maybe she should start calling or knocking first?
Nah. Where would the fun be in that?
“Maybe you should wait to wank until after you know I’m asleep. Is it safe for me to look now? I don’t want both of us to go blind prematurely,” she said, smirking, face pointed in his direction where she was sure he was, even now, glaring daggers at her.
“Or maybe you should warn me before coming over,” Mateo groused, glaring at her as he tossed the covers back, fastening his belt before standing. “Yeah, it’s safe,” he muttered, though he was tempted not to - just to see how long she’d stand there with her hand over her eyes. And now he was in an even worse mood. Great. He walked over to her, snatching the apple out of her hand and taking a bite. He hadn’t finished his dinner - he was still hungry. And it was the least she could do, considering she’d walked in on him. Again.
Technically she could do that, but Darcy wasn't about to. If she stopped just coming over whenever she pleased it would be tantamount to relinquishing her claim on his house, which wasn't going to happen. Mateo was a cat. If anyone should understand the concept of being territorial it was him. He probably did get it, but she knew he wasn't pleased with her way of expressing it.
Darcy peered through her fingers to make sure before lowering her hand. When he swiped the apple, she held both hands up, frowning. "That is now totally yours. That works even better than spitting on something to keep it away." Then she plopped sideways into one of his chairs, legs over one arm and back pressed to the other. It was easy for her tell that Teo was upset and not just about being caught before the rocket launched. "What's wrong? You're not just pissed at me. I can tell." He sounded different when it was just her annoying him.
Mateo flopped onto the floor, leaning back against the chair, craning his neck enough to lick the side of her face messily. “Mine,” he teased, smirking at her as he took another bite of the apple. He’d mostly licked her face to make her squeal, but there was an element of truth to his words - Darcy was his. Not in a sexual way - they’d kissed years ago, and both decided it was wierd and uncomfortable. But she was his, anyway. He sighed, leaning his head back against her arm, making a face. “That obvious, hunh?” He asked. “It’s nothing. Just school stuff.” People being assholes about him and Chloe - not exactly unexpected, but annoying all the same.
When he licked her, she made an angry, almost squawking sound and then wiped her face with her hand, drying it on her jeans. “Do you have to do that? Couldn’t you just do that thing where you bump my legs with your head? Because that’s disgusting.” As long as it wasn’t something gross or kinky, Darcy didn’t mind declarations of ownership. It was true. They did belong to each other although it would never, ever be sexual. That would be like making out with a brother, and that was just straight up icktacular.
Angling her arm enough, she brushed her fingers through his hair. “Obvious to me. And you’re still not saying everything. Spill it,” she declared, poking the back of his head with a finger before going back to just combing it.
Mateo’s eyelids drooped as her fingers combed through his hair, and he began to purr softly. See, this was why Darcy was awesome. He got scritches. He turned his head a little, rubbing his cheek against her side, let out another happy purr. He frowned when she poked his head, opening one eye enough to glare at her. “Ow,” he muttered, settling when she started petting him again. “People suck,” he said. “‘Specially the people in our year.” He didn’t know if she’d heard the rumors - she didn’t normally pay attention, but if his name had been mentioned...yeah. He continued, sounding grumpy. “I’ve heard like, five different people call Chloe a slut. And I can’t even do anything about it, because I shouldn’t be able to hear them anyway.” Being a were was awesome - having to hide it, not so much.
Tag
It was pretty awesome having your own giant cat except when it wasn’t like the tongue thing. Ugh. Darcy was used to the purring and everything that went along with it. That was just part of who Teo was. When he mentioned the people at school, her eyes narrowed. It was true that she paid about zero attention to the rumors at school because who the hell cared what those pricks said anyway, and people had learned a long time ago not to say anything about Teo anywhere near her. Due to her own unique nature, her hearing was slightly better and different than most humans but still nowhere near what Teo’s was so she did miss things. Plus she wouldn’t have been listening for anything about Chloe.
If it bothered Teo, though, it bothered her even if Chloe was not her favorite person in the world. Darcy sighed. She would never figure out why the hell words were so important to everyone. “God, Teo, why do you even care? Let them run their damn mouths. It doesn’t mean anything. Besides why would it be a big deal even if you had slept together?”
“It’s not that they think we slept together,” Mateo grumbled, frowning. Chloe had said she didn’t care, and he didn’t either. “It’s that they keep calling her a slut.” Because yeah, it did look kind of bad. Showing up at Homecoming with one date, then leaving with another...and walking in on Monday morning with matching hickeys all over their necks. “She’s not. I just...” he sighed, shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter. It’ll die down in a few days.” Just as soon as someone else did something embarrassing or gossip-worthy. “I wouldn’t care if they were talking about me. But Chloe...” he fought the urge to growl, his jaguar very clear on how it felt about people saying things about Chloe. He’d had to fight hard against the urge to snarl, slam the gossips against the nearest locker. But he couldn’t risk the suspension that would inevitably follow.
Darcy didn't give a shit one way or the other whether someone was a slut. "Look. You're talking about the people at our school. Most of them aren't worth anything. Why should it matter to you--or to her--what they call her? Like you said, it'll die down in a few days. They won't even remember it. They don't even care. It's just that they have nothing else to do with their insipid little lives other than talk about everything else."
It was starting to bother her, though. Only because it was bothering Teo. "Do you want to do something so they'll start talking about me instead of her?" Darcy would do anything she needed to protect Teo even if that meant protecting his new girlfriend who she wasn't sure about yet. Interlopers had never fared well in their company although it was typically her chasing off Teo's girlfriends and her boyfriends. So far neither of them had picked anyone she thought was worthy.
Mateo sighed heavily, turning around a little and pressing his face against her leg. He hated that this was bothering him - normally he ignored the shit people talked about in school. But it had never been about him before. “No, don’t bother,” he murmured. “Like I said, they’ll be talking about something else in a couple days.” He and Chloe would just have to weather the storm until then. He just hoped that her dad didn’t hear about it, somehow. Because yeah, he did not want to see Jason pissed off. Especially not if he had anything to do with it.
When he pressed his face to her leg, Darcy frowned. He was very obviously upset by this entire thing. She rubbed her fingers against the back of his neck comfortingly. Just because he said no didn't mean she wouldn't figure out something to do, especially if she could manage to figure out who was saying this shit. Darcy could be downright mean if she wanted to and nothing brought that out faster than people upsetting those close to her. "How is the teen pop princess doing?" she asked instead thinking that it might be helpful to get his mind off the disparaging comments people were making. All in all she hadn't paid that much attention to Chloe thus far. At some point, though, they were going to have to have the "if you break my friend's heart, I will end you" talk. It didn't matter what Chloe was.
Mateo purred louder as she stroked his neck, slowly relaxing, slumping against the chair in a more liquid curve as he untensed. He kind of hated that Darcy could make him feel better just by petting him, but he’d gotten used to it a long time ago. And it helped, most of the time. She didn’t have to try cheering up with stupid platitudes or promises of revenge - she just petted him until he was purring and sleepy.
“Stressed,” he answered, fighting the urge to frown at Darcy for the nickname. “Her dad’s working really hard at the moment, and his girlfriend’s hurt so she’s staying with them.” He shrugged one shoulder, just a little. “Chloe’s like the mom of the family. She feels like she has to do everything.” He wished there was something he could do to make things easier for his girlfriend, but other than giving her lots of hugs and going over to the Richards’ house whenever he had a chance...there wasn’t really anything.
It hadn't taken her long to figure out that the easiest way to calm Teo was to pet him. They had never had cats because, well, she and her dad were birds, which would be bad news, but she figured it worked the same way on most cats, were or not. Darcy wasn't normally the most affectionate person in the world, but she made allowances for him. They had basically trained each other from a young age anyway. They knew how to cheer the other up even without words.
She probably shouldn't be tossing almost offensive nicknames around about Chloe, but she was capable of way worse. That one was actually sort of complimentary if you took it from a certain angle. "Her dad's a cop, right?" Darcy thought she remembered semi-listening to something about that. "She has, what, two sisters?" Teo should be proud of her for paying attention. "So she's taking care of them and her dad's injured girlfriend?" Okay. That was a lot. Now Darcy really wanted to go find the people who were being assholes and teach them a thing or two. It wasn't nice to kick someone when they were already approaching overwhelmed. It didn't mean that she approved of Chloe yet just that she didn't like that sort of treatment in general.
Mateo couldn’t complain about the petting - he was a teenage boy, he couldn’t exactly curl up in his mom’s lap anymore. He still got pets from Ana, if she was in the mood, but other than that...well, Darcy and Chloe were the only ones who ever made him purr. And with Chloe, he was usually distracted. He nodded at Darcy’s questions, shifting to rest his chin on her leg, looking up at her.
“Yeah, you know the psycho who killed that girl, and the were, and attacked a bar at the weekend? He’s the lead detective on that case.” Mateo sighed. “And it was his friends that got attacked. And his girlfriend.” Mateo honestly wasn’t sure how Jason was able to concentrate, considering. If Chloe had gotten hurt like Justice was...yeah, Mateo wouldn’t be dealing. At all. “So he’s working pretty much 24/7, and Chloe’s trying to keep everything together at home.” He’d brought dinner on Sunday night, and had been over at Chloe’s every chance he could. He still felt like he wasn’t doing enough though, felt like there was some other way he could help. “I just wanna give her a break, y’know? A night off from being responsible big sister.”
Head cocked slightly to the side, Darcy watched and listened to him, her fingers continuing to trail through his hair automatically as he talked. Her brow furrowed as he detailed the situation. Obviously she had heard about these things--you'd have to be an idiot to miss that sort of hubub--but it was just the sort of thing that happened in cities so she hadn't given it too much thought. Now that Teo was distantly involved in it, though, she would have to be more alert.
Darcy hesitated for a moment but then just went ahead and said what was on her mind. He could get mad, but he'd be over it eventually. "Considering that her dad's friends and her dad's girlfriend got attacked, isn't it possible that this guy could target her and the rest of her family as well? I really don't want to sound like a grade A bitch here, but how safe is it for you to be going over there? Does her dad have people watching the house? As you've said, he's already attacked a were so don't come back at me with that. Being a were doesn't always mean you're safer than everyone." Sometimes it meant the opposite. "I'm not saying you shouldn't be as helpful as possible, but I don't like you opening yourself up to a potentially dangerous situation."
“He’s got a pretty good security system,” Mateo pointed out. Darcy had put her finger on the exact reason he wanted to be over at her house as much as possible, though. “I know, it’s not infallible. But yeah. That’s why I want to be there. It’s just Chloe, her two little sisters, and a wereowl with a broken arm. And Xander.” If Jason couldn’t be there, then he would. Mateo wasn’t under any illusions that someone who’d taken out Jason, Justice, and two werebears, would be bested by a teenage jaguar. It didn’t stop him wanting to protect his girlfriend. “I’m not leaving her alone, Darce. Not if I can help it.”
"Pretty good security system aside," she said, pausing in the petting to airquote that shit, "why are they being left alone? Have you talked to her dad? Is there a reason there isn't some sort of outside, police relation protection there?" It wasn't that she didn't understand wanting to be able to do something, wanting to be able to take care of someone. Darcy got that in spades. She also understood, however, that some things fell out of the scope of what one person could do. "I'm just not comfortable with the entire situation. There has to be a better way for them to go about this. I don't have a way to stop you from thinking you can best anything that might come after them, but I'm at least not going to refrain from saying that this all sounds a little half-baked."
“The attack on Justice and him was coincidence,” Mateo murmured, not sure how much he should actually be saying. But it wasn’t like Darcy was the murderer, so fuck it. “She was going to meet her friend at the bar. The owner talked to the cops about the girl that got killed, so...” Mateo shrugged. “Wrong place, wrong time, I think.” But now that Darcy had planted that worry in his head, he wasn’t quite able to shake it. “Chloe’s dad knows what he’s doing,” he insisted. He was an overprotective alpha - he wouldn’t leave his family undefended. And Mateo wasn’t gonna sit at home by himself, just because it might be dangerous.
Well it hadn’t been her intention to make him more worried; she just wanted him to be more careful. After all, he was her best friend damn it. “Because coincidental attacks make everything all bright and shiny,” she muttered mostly to herself, though she knew he would hear it. Teo heard everything. Just one of the advantages and disadvantages to having him for a friend. Darcy sighed and then leaned her head back so she was looking at the ceiling, arms folded over her chest now. “I’m sure he does know what he’s doing.” Although she wasn’t sure based on what she’d heard thus far, which was second hand at the best. Argh. “Whatever. Fine. If you get hurt, I reserve the right to tell you that I told you so for the rest of your life.” What she really wanted to do was ask why he had to put himself into so much danger for someone he barely knew. That would only end in disaster, though. She was smart enough to know that.
Mateo nuzzled her hip, almost headbutting her - she’d stopped petting! That wasn’t allowed. Especially considering he was more worried now than he had been before she’d stopped by. Less stressed, more worried. It wasn’t exactly a brilliant trade off. “You’re my best friend,” he pointed out. “Of course you get to say ‘I told you so’.” That was part of the job description - and he’d do exactly the same in return. “I’m not gonna take any stupid risks, Darce. I promise. But Chloe needs me.” And even after only a few days, Mateo couldn’t disappoint her.
No, that didn't make her happier or less concerned because she was fairly certain that, when it came to Chloe, Teo's idea of not taking any stupid risks was drastically different than hers. So she grumped and then began stroking her fingers through his hair again in order to prevent full-on headbutt treatment because it was so damn cute it was impossible to maintain even a modicum of anger. She wanted just a taste of it at least.
But, hey, at least Teo wasn't asking her about where she'd been last night. That was something.
"Now you've got me half convinced I should start staking the place out." In her bird form, she could hide, watch and escape relatively easily. "For your sake," she added because she wasn't giving any approval points to Chloe just yet. Not even for dealing with a rather stressful situation because the girl was putting her best friend in danger whether it was directly her fault or not.
Mateo snorted. “Yeah, that’ll go down well.” Because yeah, he didn’t want Darcy watching him round at Chloe’s. Much as he loved her, there were some things he really didn’t want Darcy seeing him doing. Going down on his girlfriend was one of them. He purred softly as the scritches resumed, smiling softly as he nuzzled closer. Given the chance, he’d drape himself all over her lap. “What have you been doing the last few days, anyway? I haven’t seen you since Homecoming.” Which had been awkward, a little. Since Darcy had poured a drink over her ex, and then stormed off. “You doing ok?”
No, Darcy definitely didn't want to see things that Teo might be doing with Chloe, either. That would mean an instant trip for a lobotomy, brain bleach or both. Snuggling with Mateo when it was cold was the best thing ever, especially if he was in his jaguar form. She was a little too keyed up for that at the moment. A lot of it had to do with her concern for Teo, but there was an equal amount of her attention still focused on Tony and everything that had happened the night before.
In fact she was thinking about the way Tony kissed her when she realized that her best friend was asking her a question. "Hmm." Oh, yeah. She was still supposed to be mad about what's his name the douchebag. "I'm fine. It's just been practice, voice lessons," she couldn't lie to Teo though she could omit a few things, "hanging out with Tony." God, he was going to hate that. "Nothing special." Everything special. But this was news that would have to be broken slowly.
Mateo wrapped an arm around her waist, practically draped over her lap, his face against her stomach. She was warm and soft and gave him scritches. Plus, being Darcy, she was used to him being affectionate without it actually meaning anything beyond ‘I am a cat and therefore any warm spot is far game’. He’d have to dial it down around Chloe - but she was a big cat too, so she understood. And hell, if Chloe was around, he’d be begging for affection from her instead.
Of course, because of how close he was to her, he could feel her heartbeat. Feel it pick up a little when she mentioned Tony, the way it always did. He groaned. “Darce, c’mon.” He sighed. “When are you gonna stop mooning over that asshole?” Yeah, he didn’t like Tony. The fact that the guy had never actually dated Darcy didn’t stop Teo from lumping him in with all the rest of Darcy’s asshole exes.
Darcy frowned both at Teo calling Tony an asshole as well as at herself for probably giving something away. Trying to hide things from her best friend was difficult. Actually she was tempted to tell him everything, but she didn't really want to deal with the fallout tonight. This was the way she pictured it going: she told Teo about Tony, Teo went stupid and decided to confront Tony, Tony got upset, she had to turn a hose on her two favorite people in the world, no one was happy.
So, yeah, avoiding full disclosure at the moment if at all possible.
Instead she made an aggravated noise and shifted slightly. "He's not an asshole. I don't know what it is about him that sets you off other than the fact that I like him." Like Tony? Understatement of the decade, but she was trying to play things off cool here. "Tell me more about Chloe." Oh, that wouldn't be suspicious.
“He’s an asshole,” Mateo muttered stubbornly. He didn’t like the way Tony looked at his friend. He was just glad Darcy hadn’t noticed, or they really would be in trouble. The guy was like, ten years older than them. Had babysat them when they were kids. It was creepy and wrong and he didn’t like it. And yeah, the sudden desire to talk about Chloe? That wasn’t suspicious at all. He pulled back enough to look at her, quirking an eyebrow. “Whyyyyy?” He drawled, eyes narrowed suspiciously. She hadn’t shown an interest in Chloe before, he wanted to know why she’d suddenly changed her mind.
Her teeth clicked together. For a moment, she was tempted to push him out of her lap, but she didn't. Instead she worked on slowing her heart and deciding not getting angry, annoyed and flustered at the subject of Tony. Then she decided that, hey, entering into Danger! Will Robinson territory was better by saying dumb shit. She and her brain needed to have a long talk about watching what it let her say because these weird slips were happening entirely too often. She didn't even have the excuse of a practically naked Tony to blame this round on.
Though she really needed to not think about that in the presence of a werejaguar because some responses were easier to cover than others.
"I'm secretly fascinated with her obviously." There was way too much sarcasm in that statement for it to fly. "He's really not an asshole, you know. You just don't like when I show other people attention." She tapped a knuckle against his forehead as though that would prove her point.
He huffed irritably, shifting his head away from her knuckle. It hadn’t hurt, of course, but it was still irritating. “Course not,” he grumbled. “You’re my best friend, not his.” And yeah, he could blame his jaguar for that. Even if he didn’t want Darcy as a mate, his leopard still saw her as his. And didn’t like the idea of any other guy coming in and taking her away from him. It was one of the reasons Mateo hadn’t liked any of her boyfriends - well, that and they were all assholes. He worried about Darcy’s taste in guys - or lack thereof. Tony hadn’t done anything to make Mateo think he was anything different, and he didn’t want to see Darcy’s heart getting broken over some guy who didn’t even deserve her time.
It wasn't as though she had much ground to stand on as far as the possessive thing went. The major difference was that while Darcy had chased off Teo's other girlfriends, sometimes on purpose and sometimes simply because they were insecure idiots, he just grumbled about the guys she dated and made sure she got over it when it inevitably crumbled. And, yeah, they had all been assholes. That had sort of been a trend, though. Self-sabotage maybe as it were. "Right. And you're my best friend, but I'm not calling Chloe an asshole or a bitch or any of the other equivalents. I'm not even thinking that." It was true. "I just think she might be a little annoyingly bubbly from what I've seen." The girl was a cheerleader, after all. It came with the territory. "So while you're with Chloe, I'll hang out with him." That was definitely deflecting.
It wasn’t deflecting enough. Mateo arched an eyebrow at her. “Yeah, the difference is, I’m dating Chloe. You just have a massive unrequited crush on Tony.” Or did she? Narrowing his eyes, he stared at Darcy. Staaaaaaaaaare. Unblinking, the way a cat watches prey. “Darcy....” he said in a warning tone. “Tell me I’m way off. Tell me you’re not dating Tony.” Because yeah, seriously, there was cradle-robbing, and there was just extreme levels of wrongness. Teo growled, low and rumbling.
Fuck. She knew that look, that tone, the growl. They were filed away in her mental inventory of things Teo did. It really didn't help that she was sort of trapped in the chair. Not just because of the somewhat awkward but comfortable position she had assumed but also because he was working on his best lapcat impersonation. Really she could only control her breathing and her heartbeat so much. It eventually got away from her and would give away a bit of the mixed emotions curling through her because this was so not how she had wanted to tell him.
Darcy avoided his eyes, arms crossed over her chest again. "You are not allowed to bite him," she said although she wasn't too concerned about it. Tony certainly had ways to protect himself. Bites would turn to fire to blood to disaster. She was none of that shit. She pressed a hand to her forehead. "I can't tell you that I'm not dating him." Was there a double negative in there? She didn't think so but too many things were happening for her to worry about grammar. "So, see, requited. Everything's cool." Yeah, no. It wouldn't be. She was sure.
Mateo growled louder, a distinctly unhappy sound. “No, everything’s not cool,” he muttered, pulling back to look up at her. “He’s like, thirty, Darce. What kind of guy dates high-school girls? Creeps, that’s who.” Mateo didn’t like this. Not one bit. It wasn’t even because he and Tony had never gotten on (though they hadn’t). It was because Darcy was his, his to protect and look after, and Tony was threatening that. He didn’t trust him. And he didn’t want Darcy dating him.
That was about the reaction she had expected honestly. Although when he moved, she took the opportunity to rearrange herself so that she was tucked into something more like a ball on the chair, legs crossed and arms over her chest as she just looked at him. "He's not thirty. He's twenty-five, and I'm eighteen, remember? Also we're barely still in high school. I could probably pass out of it now if they'd let me." Her parents would have thrown a fit, but what was she going to miss? Idiots in the hall and prom? Ugh. "He's not a creep." It was all fine and good for Teo to protect her, but Darcy didn't take kindly to anyone trying to tell her what to do, not even when it was him.
"Besides it's not like he was actively pursuing me." Fuck. She did not want to explain what had happened because Teo was just going to be worked up.
Mateo arched an eyebrow at her. Yeah, no, that didn’t make him feel any better. At all. “Oh, twenty-five, you’re right, that’s much better,” he drawled, glaring at her. “Jesus, Darcy...” Yeah, he used her name a lot when he pissed off. It was a thing. “He babysat you, for Christ’s sake.” It was wierd. And creepy. And did he mention wierd? “And yeah, that last part? Really doesn’t make me feel any better.” He glared at her. “What, you decided to wait until you turned eighteen just in case he actually had some brains and didn’t want to get arrested, then threw yourself at him?” Mateo got to his feet, pacing. If he’d been in his cat form, his tail would have been twitching angrily.
The babysitting comment was something she was never going to win so she didn't even try. What he said next, though, ticked her off. Darcy was up in a flash and standing on the chair, hands out and gesticulating because when she was mad, she was very, very mad. The chair was the only thing in the room that gave her enough height not to feel completely confined at the moment. "No, I did not fucking throw myself at him. You don't have any goddamn idea what happened. None of this was planned. It just. God, it just fucking happened, okay?" The other thing she did when she was mad was curse a lot more than normal. God, she didn't really mind being thought of a slut by people at school, but Teo? Really? That might not have been his intention, but the words still had that effect.
“Fine,” Mateo snarled. “Then explain it to me. Because right now, this isn’t sounding any kind of okay.” She was lucky he hadn’t shoved his face in her crotch and sniffed to see if she’d had sex. Even they weren’t quite that close. “What happened, Darcy?” Because clearly something had. If it hadn’t, she wouldn’t be so pissed off at him. Mateo’s day was just going from bad, to worse.
This had not been the fight she wanted to get into when she climbed through the window. She had been expecting that they would squawk and roar back and forth over Chloe for a while until she slipped out, secret well intact until she found the right way to break it to him. Now she just wanted to brain him, climb out the window and head straight for Tony's. She wouldn't, though, because Teo was too important, and she did owe him an explanation.
Darcy shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she watched him and tried to think of where to start and how to throw this down without enraging her friend anymore. She was certainly going to have to omit the whole towel escapade or rearrange it. "I went to hang out at the shop yesterday after school. I was bored, and I figured you were probably with her highness." Okay, she was too mad to pussyfoot around things right now. "After Tony got off work, we went back to his place and got pizza." Basically the jist of it. "And there were some awkward moments because he was," don't do it, "shirtless," that works, "and I was looking because duh. So that made him self-conscious or something. But then I told him that it was his house so he should do what he wanted and." This made no damn sense. "So then there was talking and some admissions and a lot of neither of us knowing the other one was interested. And that was it." Except for all the kissing and sex and talk of parents and babies and a whole hell of a lot of other things that would potentially make Teo claw one of the walls out.
Mateo snarled at Darcy’s snarky nickname for Chloe. Now was not the time to be snide about his girlfriend. Not when he was already pissed off. His eyes were bleeding to gold, pupils narrowing to slits as he paced back and forth, rolling his shoulders in an attempt to relax a little. To stop himself from being so angry. He stayed silent for now, letting her explain, or attempt to. “Why the hell was he shirtless?” He wasn’t a were, so he didn’t have that excuse. And in any case, it really wasn’t appropriate for Tony to be half-naked around Darcy. He was starting to wonder how pre-calculated it was. How much Tony had manipulated the situation.
No, she shouldn't be goading him. Not when he was already upset, but she really couldn't help herself. Her anger didn't spark as quickly as Teo's or Tony's for that matter, but her feathers were decidedly ruffled at this point. She was past the point of caring. And, of course, he had picked out that little detail to gnaw on. Hands on her hips, Darcy rolled her eyes at him. The gold eyed shit didn't scare her or even curb her tongue. "He had just gotten home from working at the shop so he took a shower. And then didn't put a shirt on. I don't know. Do you wear shirts all the time?" God, she was glad she'd changed details up because this was going so not well.
Mateo snarled. “You know I don’t,” he growled, his voice barely human. “But that’s different. I wouldn’t walk around naked in front of Chloe, and I’m already dating her.” Now, it was because he didn’t trust himself around Chloe, didn’t trust himself not to just pin her down and take her the way his jaguar wanted. But he would never have walked around topless, not if there was a girl there. Darcy was different - she was like his sister. “You’re gonna tell me he didn’t do it on purpose?” He asked her. “That he wasn’t trying to make you do something?” Because yeah, it sounded like it from Mateo’s point of view. He knew how long Darcy had had a crush on Tony - if Tony had noticed, and waited until she was eighteen? That was kind of a dick move.
There was no doubt in her mind that some people were probably scared as shit when he growled like that. Darcy typically thought it was funny, but she currently just wanted to find a newspaper so she could roll it up and bop him across the nose with it. "Shirtless isn't naked. Stop making sure a big deal about it." Only it hadn't been shirtless, but he didn't need to know that. She'd have to call Tony and give him the blow by blow of this conversation so when--not if, never if--those questions came up he could answer in the proper manner. Knowing him, though, he might get too angry and just let everything out. Well. Hell. "Also it's not my fault you two are weirdly puritanical. I wouldn't think it was weird if you were walking around in front of her without a shirt on."
"And no, I don't think he did it with any sort of ulterior motive in mind. It was his house. He had just finished taking a shower. The pizza was getting cold. Thus shirtless." She so wanted to throw something right at Teo's thick head, but she settled for standing on the chair and rolling her neck in aggravation to pop it. "In fact, he was pretty sure that we were an item when he invited me over. I think it was just a habit for him to be shirtless in his own home." Why was this detail so important?
“Ok, enough. I really don’t need to know about Tony being shirtless.” He looked slightly nauseous at the thought. Because yeah, the guy was an asshole. And Mateo really didn’t want mental images. “And fuck you,” he growled, “just because-” he stopped, almost literally biting his tongue. No, he wasn’t gonna stoop that low. He wasn’t going to use Darcy’s relationships, or the choices she’d made, against her. He wasn’t quite that much of a dick. Not quite.
"You're the one who wouldn't fucking let it go so don't you dare cop any sort of attitude about it," she said, pointing a finger squarely at him. Her shoulders and chin were held stiff by this point, and her nostrils were flared. All the normal warning tones were in his voice, but she didn't care. Mateo was the last person in the world that she was scared of. Her voice turned icy and tightly controlled. "No. What? Say it. Just because what, Teo?"
If they were going to have it out, they were going to have it out. "What do you want to throw in my face? Sleeping with inappropriate guys for potentially wrong reasons? Go ahead. Be my guest." Then she laughed, a very mean, harsh sound but gritted her teeth to keep herself from coming out and admitting to him that she had slept with Tony. Although if he kept pushing her buttons...
Mateo snarled as Darcy yelled back at him, still pacing back and forth, his eyes never leaving her, never blinking. “Fine. Just because I don’t throw myself at guys within minutes of meeting them. That what you wanted me to say, hunh?” He stopped in front of the chair, head cocked as he looked up at her, jaguar painfully close to the surface. He was every inch the predator right now, angry and dangerous. “You wouldn’t understand what it’s like, between me and Chloe. You wouldn’t have a fucking clue.” He was being cruel now, and he knew it. He just didn’t care, right now. “And you know what? I’m tired of you fucking judging her. You don’t even know her, and you’re making snarky comments. Just drop it, ok?”
Okay. Shit was now real. Darcy put on her best innocent face and crossed her hands over her heart. "Oh, I don't know what it's like to be in true love," she made the words sound like baby talk, "after spending so little time with someone. Oh, my hard, cold heart will never understand your true and undying devotion." Darcy put her hand flat on his chest--a motion that wasn't recommended when he was this mad but fuck it--and pushed him back as she jumped down from the chair and crossed to the window. "So I can't judge or say anything about the girl you've known," she checked her watch, "what? Five hours. When we compress all the time together. No. Maybe seventy-two. I can't say shit about her, but you can stand there and say whatever the hell you want about Tony, who you know I've been in love with for years, and I'm not supposed to get mad? Jesus, pot, this is kettle calling. Look in the goddamn mirror." She was about two minutes away from heading right down that ladder and back to Tony's house because if she went home now her parents were likely to get nothing by a torrent of curse words out of her.
Mateo snarled loudly, barely stepping back as she shoved at him. He followed her to the window, slamming it closed before she could slip out. “I never said we were in love,” he said, his voice dangerous quiet. He stepped up against Darcy, backing her up against the wall, his eyes still that unearthly golden color. “And you know what? That’s why I haven’t fucked her. Because I know I’m not there yet. You don’t know a goddamn thing about her - you don’t get to judge her.” He slammed his hands against the wall either side of her head, just to watch her jump. “But you...I’ve seen you fucking pining after Tony for years. Years. And he’s never shown any interest. You were practically panting around him. And suddenly, now you’ve turned eighteen, he’s noticed you? Bullshit. Bull. Fucking. Shit.”
She didn't jump. Not when he closed the window or when he slammed his hands on either side of her. Instead she just stared at him, eyes dark, drawn and angry. She was trying to control her breathing and her heartbeat as well as the overwhelming instinct to just get the fuck out because there were some times when she simply couldn't be contained. This was quickly escalating into one of those. It didn't help that--for better or worse--Teo knew where all those buttons were and how to push them if he wanted. It didn't happen often, but when it did they went on emotional rampages like this.
Slowly she looked at first one hand and then the other. "Why don't you just prove what a big man you are and punch through the damn wall already? If you don't want your relationship," air quoted to hell and back, "mocked then stop treating this like a goddamn fairy tale. I'm sorry that I'm not ready to bow down to her majesty and pay homage yet, but I haven't even come close to being cruel."
Darcy slipped under his arm, careful to avoid touching him more than necessary. Her jaw was so tight she was surprised that she hadn't shattered her teeth yet, especially considering the things he was saying about Tony. "Think what you goddamn fucking well want to. You want to know the truth? He wasn't just shirtless. He was only wearing a towel. Happy now? And, yes, before you ask or assume or go tell your perfect, virgin girlfriend that I'm a slut, I did have sex with him. I'm not sorry. You are my best friend, but you are not my goddamn keeper." The last was said through clenched teeth.
Mateo gritted his teeth. Because yeah, Darcy was right. He was seconds away from putting a damn hole in the wall. But better that, than a hole in her face. He wasn’t treating his relationship like a fairytale - she was the one who kept making fun, calling her a princess. And yeah, it wasn’t in a nice way. “Get out,” he growled through his teeth, still facing the wall rather than her. If he looked at her, he was going to end up shaking her til her teeth rattled, in the hopes that he’d get through to her. Because Tony? Was using her. He was sure of it. And he wasn’t going to let her get her heart broken.
This was not a night for goodbye hugs or snuggling or anything of that nature. This was a night when they were both restraining themselves from potentially doing more than just emotional harm to the other one. Darcy stalked away from him, slammed the window open and climbed through it. "With fucking pleasure," her voice drifted up as she hurried down. She was about fifteen minutes away from breaking into angry tears and potentially throwing things, something she was not going to let Teo see.
Mateo snarled angrily, giving in to the urge to punch the wall after he heard the window slam shut. He dropped to his knees, leaning his forehead against the wall, gasping for breath as he forced the beast back down, forced himself to calm.
“Well, fuck.” He muttered. He didn’t have the luxury of tears - he just had to deal with the anger in his own way. Switching his jeans for a pair of loose jogging bottoms, he shoved on a pair of sneakers. Running would help. And if his run took him past Chloe’s house...well. That’d just be a happy coincidence.