lostmyhead ( ✓ )

chapter four

When Matty first woke up, he shrieked. This wasn't one of those quiet inhalations of breath from surprise, but rather an outward explosion of surprise that knocked the man beside him right out of the bunk.

"Owww." George groaned in discomfort, sitting up and running his head tediously.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. You can't scare me like that!" Matty exclaimed, head too hurting from the adrenaline caused by momentary terror.

"I didn't even do anything to scare you, though. I was sleeping." George complained.

Matty chuckled, finding George's morning temper adorable. He too sat up, grabbing his friend's arm as he attempted to pull him back into his bunk.

"You slept with me, and I didn't know it. That's surprise enough. In the early morning light, I thought you were an intruder, set out to destroy me and only me." Matty stated defensively, because he hated being wrong.

"I'm not gonna destroy you, Matty." George snaps, and then lets out another groan. "My fucking head hurts."

Matty laughed again, pulling George's head towards him, causing the taller boy to complain yet again.

"If you keep groaning, Georgie, our bus mates are gonna get the wrong idea of us. We don't want that now, do we?" Matty smirked, staring devilishly into George's brown eyes.

"Oh, fuck off, will you?" George complained, rolling over so he was faced opposite of his best friend.

"Fine. Then I guess you don't want one of the world famous Matty Healy head massages, then?" He smirked, and then George stiffened.

"Why the ever-loving fuck are you so complicated?" He whined, covering his head with a pillow, but removing the soft device a second later when it made his head throb. Matty also took notice of a small tent rising under the covers, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Perhaps another time then, huh? I'll just be off then." And with that, Matty climbed over George to exit the bunk, making sure to 'accidentally' rest his hand on his friend's crotch as he went, confirming that George was just the littlest bit excited by this whole ordeal.

"Fuck you, Matty." He heard him mutter just before he slipped to the other side of the curtain, heading to the small kitchen set up on the bus. It truly was small: just a counter, mini fridge, microwave, and kettle for coffee or tea.

He went about making himself some coffee, listening to whatever song played lowly on the bus's speakers. It was some song by Justin Bieber, he could understand that much - and debated if anyone would be pissy if he changed the station to something a little more ... meaningful.

In the end, he walked up to where the radio was and turned the knob until he heard 'Rooster' by Alice In Chains playing. He then turned up the volume knob a decent bit, and went back to brewing coffee, knowing damn well that the music's volume was sure to wake everyone else on the bus up. He just didn't care.

~

"Have you told George yet?" Matty's mother asked him, and he felt bad for rolling his eyes. Denise Healy had called Matty early that morning: having heard from Ross about her son's collapse onstage. She was worried, and just from talking to Ross, she'd gathered that neither Ross, nor Adam had heard about Matty's illness.

"No, Mum, he doesn't know." Matty said, glancing over his shoulder to find that George had disappeared somewhere - probably the bathroom.

"Why haven't you told him, Matthew? He's your best friend. He has every right to know." Denise asked, debating which side of the family Matty's stubbornness had come from.