Mattheo Riddle - Imagines/OneShot

Crossing the Line

Word Count: 682

Author Note: Thank you so much for over 8k reads! You guys are amazing!! OML do I love you all <3

Mattheo leaned against the railing of the empty rooftop, the cold breeze brushing his face as the first hues of dawn softened the edges of the sky. The silence around him was heavy, almost suffocating, yet in it, he found a strange comfort. It reminded him of her—of Y/N—the girl who had woven her way into the quiet parts of his life, the spaces he'd thought no one could reach.

They hadn't meant to find each other, and yet it was like she'd sprouted unexpectedly in his life, like a wildflower growing in a crack of concrete. She had a rare beauty about her, delicate and untamed, something he could never pin down. It used to frustrate him, how she seemed to live just beyond his grasp, always a little too free, always looking at the world like it was full of secrets only she could see.

Mattheo remembered how he'd tried to figure her out, tried to place her into neat little boxes. But Y/N didn't fit in boxes; she didn't fit into anything predictable. She was a storm wrapped in sunlight, a spark that drew him in and set him on fire. He'd never known someone could change him like that, that he could find himself so captivated by the way someone simply existed.

She was his change. There used to be a time when darkness clung to him, unrelenting and inescapable. The kind of darkness that his father wanted him to embrace, that world where cruelty was a badge of honor and softness was a weakness. But then, she had walked into his life—wild, unafraid, and stubbornly determined to show him the light.

She called him her "wildflower", because, she'd said, he just needed a chance to grow in a place where his roots wouldn't be tangled by shadows. Together, they'd defied his father, broken chains that he hadn't thought he could escape from. He'd never forget the night they'd run, hand in hand through the forests, heartbeats in sync as they left his father's realm far behind. She had fought for him in ways he hadn't thought anyone would, risking everything.

But the price was high. There was a night he couldn't erase from his mind, the one where she'd stood before a dark figure, offering up her memory in exchange for his freedom. He remembered her pleading with the curse's caster, bargaining her memories of him so that he'd be free of his father forever. The spell had been cast, and in a matter of seconds, she'd turned to him with a blank look, her face an unfamiliar mask as if he were a stranger.

He had called her name, frantic, desperate, but her gaze didn't soften; there was no recognition. She turned and walked away, her face peaceful, leaving him in a world that now felt as empty as the place she'd filled before. She'd freed him from one prison and left him in another.

Now, he watched her from a distance, unable to approach, unwilling to disrupt her life yet somehow unable to stay away. Anger brewed in him like a relentless storm. It wasn't fair. Why should she suffer for his freedom? Why should she be cursed to forge the love, the fire, the memories, the relationship they had built? He would have done anything to keep her with him.

He thought about her words constantly, especially when she'd called him her wildflower, something she believed in. And in a strange way, he was still growing because of her, trying to live a life she would have wanted for him. He kept close to her, staying in her orbit from a distance, quietly reliving moments she no longer remembered. He'd follow her laugh through the hallways, sit behind her in the library, find reason to pass by her friends.

And it hurt. Every smile, every laugh she shared with others cut deep. But he couldn't bring himself to leave her behind. She was the reason he had a second chance, and he'd carry the memory of her in his heart even if she couldn't.

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In my sad girl hours right now lmaooooo✌️

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