Ridiculous: Mattory

30: So Reel Me In, My Precious Girl

A/N: And let's top this whole story off with some nice, steamy fluff. A longer author's note will be incoming after this and the epilogue will be posted tomorrow, so make sure you stick around and read both :) And yes, if you haven't checked out the New Story, there are some massive hints in this chapter ;D

Mallory

At some point, I realize my apartment is no longer my home. Right now, it's just an expensive, glorified storage unit; a place to keep the things that haven't moved over to Matt's yet.

It's no real wonder that whenever he chases me out of the hospital and makes me promise to get some sleep in a real bed, I end up in his vacant apartment.

I shouldn't be surprised he notices almost immediately when he finally comes home.

"I distinctly remember being in a hurry and not making the bed the last time I was here," he says softly as we stand in the doorway to his bedroom.

"Yeah, I came by a few times," I respond, not meeting his eyes. "Sorry."

"Sorry?" he repeats. "What's there to be sorry for?"

"You don't think it's weird I slept in your bed without asking you?"

"Mal," he says, lacing his fingers with mine. "At this point, I'm pretty sure it's your bed too." I look up and find those warm eyes that I can't help but picture whenever I blink. Right now, there's a loving look in that gaze, and in a moment he's leaning forward and brushing his lips feather-light over mine.

I try to be careful, mindful of his injury as I wrap my arms around his neck, but it's just about all I can do not to take charge and slam him back against the wall when he starts deepening the kiss. A little moan tumbles past my lips and I feel a chuckle start somewhere in his chest.

"Missed that, did you?" he whispers when we finally pull away, both struggling for breath.

"You could say that."

We spend the next few hours distracting each other quite thoroughly.

There's no question that I'm staying tonight. The 'weekends only' rule was discarded after we got engaged, anyways, and as whole and healthy as Matt looks right now he's still supposed to be taking it easy for a while.

We have a moment of surprisingly intimate quiet as we realize 'our' sides of the bed are a bit backwards for the situation—for him to sleep on his left, he'll have his back to me, and neither of us like that idea. There's no words between us as we shuffle pillows and phone chargers around to switch sides, before I disappear into the bathroom to change.

Not long after he's curled himself around me and for the first time in a long while, I finally feel whole again.

~~~

November changes to December and I find myself wondering if this crazy year is really about to draw to a close. Fond memories of this time last year play through my head as Christmas music wafts through every stereo and we wrap up filming all our holiday sketches.

With everything that happened we're a little behind this year, and it's less than two weeks until Christmas when James, Jeremy, and Matt join forces to wrestle a tree into our apartment. We repay our two friends with cookies and company, and after they leave I find myself sorting through our combined boxes of decorations for my favorites.