[completed] Dusty Rose (Matty Healy/George Daniel)

Two

Matty didn't particularly enjoy working in Tea Inc: it wasn't a bad job, and everyone there was very lovely, Matty supposed, but it was dull. Of course, comparatively to his cam shows, most every job would seem boring and monotonous, and at least there were always different people in the little café.

Plus, since Matty had worked there, Nick had developed a taste for their green tea. He wasn't generally a fan, but he claimed that the flavour of Tea Inc's green tea was more than tolerable compared to shop bought. And so, whenever Nick had a day off when Matty was working, he would pop in at the end of Matty's shift, buy himself a green tea, and walk Matty home.

Really, it was a gesture that had been a recurring theme throughout their friendship: at school, whenever one of the boys had had a free period at the end of the day and the other hadn't, they would go to the other's last lesson and wait outside the classroom for them to finish so that they could walk home together.

If Matty and Nick were honest with themselves, they would appreciate how amazing it was that their friendship had lasted so long: now seven years strong, and with little more than the very occasional bump in the road along the way.

Today had been busier than usual in Tea Inc, especially given that it was a Tuesday and Matty had been on the morning shift. Admittedly, he had stayed on until after lunch, when people came in on their lunch breaks for a break with some pretentiously fancy tea, but there were rarely more than five people in the café at once, and Matty had counted seven at one point today.

Despite this newfound lack of boredom due to so many customers, Matty was incredibly grateful when Nick slipped through the door, the little silver bell tinkling gently, signifying the end of his shift. Matty tried not to keep an eye on the time when he knew Nick would come in; once he looks at the clock once, he looks every five minutes and the day takes about seven years.

Nick smirked as they made eye contact, sauntering over to his friend, who was already boiling the see-through kettle for Nick's green tea.

"How's it been today, Matty? Looks busy."

"Lots to do, I suppose. It's gone by fast today."Matty shrugged, tipping some green tea leaves into an infuser. "You?"

"Been fine, yeah." Nick dug his hands into his pockets, pulling out the tobacco and papers he'd resorted to using, telling himself he and Matty could go the other way home and stop at the shop for some proper cigarettes. He rolled up two cigarettes as he spoke, one for himself and one for Matty, who was always desperate for a smoke by the time his shift ended. "Went to see how much it'd cost to soundproof a room; really want my drums back from my parents' house."

Matty nodded, beaming at the familiar sight of Nick rolling up cigarettes as he poured the boiling water into a paper cup with the infuser resting inside. "Three minutes, mate."

When George proposed the idea of walking home the long way to go the the good shop - the one by their flat was stupidly overpriced, and George refused to shop there, though Matty didn't really mind - the short boy was surprisingly disgruntled.

"Nick, I'm not going the wrong way home just for cheaper cigarettes. I'm exhausted, I barely slept last night, and you want me to walk for an extra twenty minutes? Fuck off."

"Matty, it's an extra ten, at most-"

"I'm tired, Nick, you know how slowly I walk when I'm tired, it'd be fifteen at best-"

"Fucking hell Matty, walking half a mile further isn't going to make any difference, I swear to God."

"No." Matty crossed his arms, knowing that the turning that Nick would be taking for his frankly ridiculous detour was coming up soon.