Serendipity.

12

Paint was everywhere. The walls, floor, ceiling. Everywhere.

"Damn it, Max. Stop it!" Matt was trying his best to escape form Max's blue hands. His clothes where completely ruined, covered with pastel colors.

"You painted my damn hair, ass!" Her laugh echoed on the small studio, a faint smell of mint cigarettes lingering in the air. The Art's faculty was almost empty.

"I'm fucking sorry! I just miss your blue hair." He pouted mockingly, and grabbed her wrists to put her hands on her face, staining her skin.

"Bitch," Max cackled, rounding his waist with her arms. Matt returned the hug, cradling her head with one of his hands, the other resting in the middle of her back.

"But seriously, I do miss your blue hair, love." Matt loved how she looked with dark hair, but he could easily notice how her eyes saddened when she looked at the mirror. Max told him once that blue was a special color, and she liked to keep it as close as she could.

"Yeah, me too." Matt's chest was slowly but surely becoming Max's safe space, with the constant beating of his heart, and the deepest breaths, and the warmest arms, and the strongest mucles, and his even deeper voice, and the nicest-

"Max?"

"What?" And it was also distracting. Extremely distracting.

Matt just chuckled. Max did this very often. "I asked you if you'd like to go back to blue, love."

She could feel the blush covering her blue face. "Yes, I'd love to."

"Great. Cause I've been standing here for 5 minutes and it's getting very damn akward, lovebirds," A voice said out loud, an unapologetic smile lighting the person's face when both Max and Matt jumped away from each other. "Don't even bother. If you guys planned on being secretive, you suck. Real bad."

Marc was standing at the door, watching them. He was carrying a small bag. "I brought your shit, Matt. How's it going, blue?"

Blue? "Uh, I'm fine. But my hair's not blue anymore."

He sent a complicit smile to Matt, and threw the small bag to him. "We'll see, blue."

When he walked away, Max was so damn confused she couldn't stop staring at the door. "Matt, I think your friend is broken."

He laughed. "I can't say he's not."

"What's on the bag?"

"It's something I think you might like." He gave the bag to her, expectation shinning in his eyes.

Max found interesting things: Bleach, blue hair dye, hair masks and gloves. "Matt? What's this?"

"Come on, love. You know what it is."

"I do know, but why?"

Matt sighed, sadness appeared in his face. "I've seen how you look at yourself. You love blue, and you loved your hair when it was blue. And I know you are scared because of what might happen if you dye again, but there's nothing I wouldn't do to bring that smile of yours back."

Tears. Max swallowed them, feeling stupidly emotional."Why would you do something like that for me?"

He chuckled, amused of how oblivious she was. "You seriously have no idea, do you?"

"About what?"

Matt hugged her shoulders, guiding her out of the studio. "Come on, we have shit to do."

°°°

"Matt, this is not coming off your shirt."

"I know, princess. Now, stop overthinking."

Matt's bathroom ended up like a smaller version of the studio: blue. On the walls, the mirror, his own face, and Max's hair. They had spent the whole afternoon doing Max's hair, ecos of laughs and contagious smiles caressed each other.

"'M staining it." Max reached for the hem of the shirt she was using with the intention of taking it off, but the aprehensed look on Matt's eyes through the mirror stopped her.

"Leave it, Max. You look pretty in it," Matt said while clearing the space a bit. It was almost time to wash her hair.

"I missed it." Max sighed, looking at herself on the mirror. The blue was darker that the one she had, but it was Matt who gave it to her. Something fluttered in her heart at how domestic the whole thing felt.

"I know, love." He stood behind her, a couple of strands of hair falling on his face. Max wasn't sure if she was lacking human contact, but to her eyes, Matt could easily be one of the most beautiful people she'd ever seen. "And I can almost hear your thoughts, princess."

I love him. It's so scary to love him. "I have something on my mind."

"And what would that be?"

I think I'm loving you. "I want to do something, but I'm scared."

Matt frowned slightly, trying to figure her out. "Would that hurt you?"

"Only if it comes out badly."

"Is it worth fighting for?" Matt brushed his fingers through her hair, unintentionally caressing her neck.

You're melting my heart. "Yes, it is."

"Then, if you can't beat the fear, just do it scared."

Please. "And if it brings me down?"

He hugged her from behind, kissing her cheek. "We'll build you up again."

Please, love me back. "I... think it's time to wash this off."

"Yes, it is." Matt hesitates from the sudden change of topic, but she was right: He had to wash her hair now.

They went to the tub, to begin with the most chaotic situation imaginable. At least her hair was blue.

"I seriously missed this," Max realized with lonely tears threatening to escape.

"You look illegally pretty." Matt took her chin, caressing the skin there. Their eyes melted together, and the insane connection they both started to feel was shocking them from the inside. "Is it okay if I want to kiss you, love?"

"Only if you do kiss me."

And he did.