butterflies ઇଓ matt sturniolo imagines

𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳

ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅ઇଓ

     you hated being the best friend's sister. no matter how much you've grown, or how many times you've proven yourself a friend all on your own, you'll never escape being looked at as something untouchable- someone that needs to be protected. someone that is off limits.

     growing up with nate was exactly what anyone might expect- he was an evil little shit when you were kids, and now that you're older, you've bonded. the mutual agreement on the questionable sanity of your parents, the shared experiences at home and at school, and the times where nobody else was around to talk to but each other were all pieces in the big puzzle that made you two brother and sister. you still hated when he busted into your room without knocking, and he still smacked you around when you interrupted his games, but you guys loved each other. when he wasn't being an ass, he was a really good brother.

     nate's friends were your friends. you used to have a few girlfriends in middle school, and they weren't the best, but they were there. when you started freshman year, you and nate had finally begun to grow closer and your friends pulled a classic teenager move and decided to stop talking to you; and with nate being the only one left, he just invited you everywhere. through him, you met matt, nick, and chris, and they welcomed you so fast you had no choice but to accept your fate. this was amazing for you, because you lucked into a few really good people without having to do all the work... but not everyone saw it that way.
     being the girl in a friend group of boys was the worst thing you could be in school. girls either only treated you kindly so they could get in with one of them, or they were ruthless because they assumed that's what you were there for. and boys were just the same, if not worse, because you got called every name in the book by them. at first it bothered you, because there was no reason for them to have an opinion on who you were friends with- but after a while, you couldn't care less. if people didn't want to know you, then you didn't want to know them. you had a brother and three boys on your side, and you were comfortable with that. plus, it didn't matter what people said, because you had a brother and three boys on your side (so let's just say that nothing was ever said to your face!)

matt, nick, and chris were more than just your friends. they took you under their wing as an awkward preteen and promised to protect you for as long as they could. nick was your counselor, and he never stopped checking on you and making sure you weren't bottling things up. chris was your bodyguard and your teammate in every mario kart match- being nate's closest friend, he was practically your other brother. and matt... well, matt was different.

when you met them, nick and chris greeted you like they'd known you their entire lives. matt, on the other hand, was quiet. his eyes were skeptical of you, and he barely spoke the first time you'd come to hang at their house. you thought he didn't like you, or that he didn't trust you- he was a very awkward kid. but you learned things were quite the opposite when you were left alone with him for the first time.
     after about a month of getting to know the boys, you and nate would spend practically every day with them. one late afternoon, chris complained that there was no food in the house and announced he would walk to the store a few blocks away and get some snacks. nick and nate leapt to join him, and they told you and matt to 'hold down the fort' while they were gone. you weren't sure what to say, so you listened, and the boys were out the door before you could change your mind.
matt sat quietly on the couch with his face buried in his phone. he held it sideways and was clicking away, playing some sort of game. you looked between him and the television, unsure of if you should speak up or not. the volume was too low to try and watch, and you couldn't find the remote, and if the room stayed any quieter you might've screamed. so you started talking.