WHO: Santiago and Mateo WHEN: February 9th WHERE: Santi's home SUMMARY: Mateo has a panick, Santi does his best CW: Socially Awkward Dummies
If Mateo had been in his right mind, he never would have agreed to go on this … this … not a date. He refused to think of it like that. This invitation and the only reason he had was that his grandfather had been on his You Need More Friends, You're So Nice and Friendly (sometimes) Why Don't You Have More Friends streak.
Mateo wanted to be like, but you don't understand, but he was old enough now to know how immature it sounded.
Even if it was true.
But now. Now, Mateo was regretting everything. Now, he had to go to lunch with her father. Apparently.
This was too much, too fast, and too everything for an invitation he accepted. After all, he felt terrible about disappointing his grandfather because he didn't have more friends.
So here he was, on the doorstep of a friend he did have. Did cousins count as friends? Yes. Would Santi be useful? Probably not. Did Mateo need someone to flail at who wouldn't laugh at him? Yes. Would Santi manage to not laugh?
Probably not.
His dads were on a day trip of some sort, so Santiago was alone home, playing Pokemon in his OLED Switch. His Pokedex was coming up great, and he was already close to 100%, but he wanted an Alpha Bidoof just because it was cute and–
The doorbell rang, and he got up to check the camera to see who it was; and realizing it was his cousin, he buzzed him up, heading over to the entrance to unlock the door and wait for Mateo to get to him. "Hello, primo!" Santiago beamed, full of warmth. "You look like you're thinking about something."
"I guess that's a step above panicking." Mateo will take thinking. Thinking was good. Right. Yes. "I have a problem." He paused for a moment, then added, "I don't think you can help me, but if I tell Abuelo, he will beam and buy me new clothes and not be helpful in the least."
"Do you need clothes? We wear about the same size, right?" Mateo might be slightly taller, but it was hard to tell in plain sight. Santiago closed and locked the door, rubbing his beard as he walked over to the couch to take a seat. "Do you want to talk about it?" His dad was way better at these conversations than he was… but he could try!
"No! Maybe. But preferably, I would not need them because I am not going." God help him. "Fernanda Bravo is having a party for … something, on a boat. She invited me to go with her, and I agreed because Abuelo has been sad I don't have more friends." Clearly, it was all his fault, but Mateo was never one to really blame him for anything. Even when it was his fault. "Now her father, you know who he is, wants to meet me for lunch before this. Abuelo will think this is great! But it's not, and I need help."
"Is your Abuelo still trying to be sociable, or what's happening?" His chuckle was soft and kind, with no hint of teasing in his tone, growing quiet to listen to his primo, making eye contact because it was easy with him, so he nodded his head a few times. "So…" He closed one eye and reached back to scratch the nape of his neck. "He thinks you're wooing his daughter, right? What do you want me to do?"
"Anything! I don't know. Maybe I need someone to panic at. Or an escape plan out of here and to … somewhere else. Spend a month in Panama and avoid everything, slink back in when no one remembers what happened, and I can go back to selling books."
Mateo wasn't stupid. Well, questionable. But he wasn't that stupid on why this was happening, and he didn't know if there was a way to be convincing that no, he did not want to take advantage of a (very rich) (very influential) person's daughter and really, his ambitions in life did not amount to more than sell books, be with his grandfather, work out, walk his dogs and bake cookies. It was a happy life! He was content!
"You're not running away; you've got this, Teo!" Santiago reached over and gently patted his shoulder, looking at him fondly and with a soft smile spread across his lips. "If you're just being friendly, then, maybe be honest? Honesty is always a good policy. If you make up lies, it'll only get worse from there." A web of lies that he would trap himself into, eventually… "Anyway, clothes, I've got you covered, so don't worry about that, at least."
Mateo stared at his cousin for a few moments, then collapsed onto a nearby couch in dramatic style. He wasn't often dramatic (he liked to tell himself), but this required it. "That sounds good, except I'm not sure how 'I agreed so mi Abuelo would be less sad about me not having friends' would go over with all of this. What if he's insulted? What if she’s insulted? It's not like this is an ordinary family. This is I mess it up, I mess up everything we've worked for, potentially."
"Take a breath, primito." Santiago held both hands up and repeated the motion himself, taking in a deep and slow breath. "You're, um, overthinking this," he said, but he knew that sounded funny coming from him. "Just compliment her when you're talking to him, say stuff like, uh… you want to know her better but as a friend?" She seemed like a nice person, even if she was a bit intimidating.
"Oh! You can say you don't have a lot of friends, so you're happy she wants to be yours!"
"That's not half bad. But it's still easier to run away. You'll help Abuelo run the store for me, right? All you need to do is carry boxes and make cookies." Santi made a serious face for once and glared at Mateo.
He didn't know Fernanda well enough to pull this off, even if he was able to muster up enough charisma to make it through a lunch of this.
"Alright, you need emergency sweets; you're thinking this too hard!" With a heavy sigh, Santiago pushed himself to stand up. "I'll even give you some of my favorite ice creams, but after that, we're going to find an outfit for you. Even if it's clothes from one of my dads."
Santi stood there, stroking his beard. "Anyway, play with my Switch, and we'll start drafting this strategy when I'm back!"
Mateo doubted playing video games was going to help him, but it was the kind of advice he should have expected.
"Sounds like a plan." But escape would've been a better plan.