Stephew Oneshots.

Regretful

She sat on the doorstep of the house, staring out into the busy street. To anyone that walked past, she either looked like someone who had forgotten their key or a homeless person who was seeking shelter from the rain. The droplets poured from the sky endlessly, as if their sole purpose in life was to flood the world and cleanse it of the filth that humanity had brought. She had forgotten her umbrella, leaving it by the backdoor in her rush to get here on time but the busy city had worked against her. Traffic, construction and the slow walking tourists had all combined to make her late. Her window of opportunity was like an hourglass filled with sand, slowly filtering down until there was nothing left.

The young woman sat there, shifting from side to side every so often in nervousness as she waited for him to return. Her hair was normally long and straight; shining brown locks that were the envy of her friends but now it was bedraggled and frizzy – a bit like she had just rolled out of bed. Her eyes were a murky brown, the shade that you would see on a tree on the edges of forests. They were normally bright and full of excitement, shining with that mischievous glint that her friends loved so much. Today, those eyes were filled with sadness and regret. They screamed an untold story of pain and bad decisions, all of which culminated in this moment. She wore a simple pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, with a navy coat tightly wrapped around her shivering form. It lacked a hood so the rain simply ran down her face, shining in the dim light of the street.

A taxi pulled up in front of the building and the woman lifted her head to see who it was that was getting out. Two men got out of the car, one of them in his thirties, the other in his early forties. They paid the taxi driver and jogged quickly towards the door, trying to get out of the rain but stopping in place when they saw her sitting there. One of them looked at his friend in confusion but the younger one stared at the woman with fear and hope warring in his eyes. He stepped forward, ignoring the rain that was drenching his clothes. He stared her up and down as if trying to compare her to a memory that he had clung to. His mouth narrowed into a straight line and his fists clenched, clearly, someone was angering him. Yet, his eyes practically glowed with hope and a tiny bit of joy as they looked at one another.

"Stephanie?"

The younger man spoke, timid and quiet. His voice was deeper than she had remembered. She nodded shyly, standing up from the step so that he could see her properly. They stood in stunned silence for a few minutes, the man's friend looking between the pair of them, completely confused. Eventually, she decided to break the silence:

"Hello, Matthew."

Matthew or MatPat as he was most commonly known stood completely stunned. Right here, in front of him was his wife. He hadn't seen her in over a year. The last time he had seen her face, she was kissing him on the forehead and whispering that she would come back for him. He had been sleeping at the time and had thought it was all a dream. However, when he woke up and she was gone, he knew it had been real. Years had gone by, her meaning became painfully clear. They use to call each other nicknames, shortening one another's name and making puns from them. Mat and Steph, the ultimate couple. Inseparable till the end.

"I-I...haven't seen you in a long time. Where the fuck have you been?"

Stephanie shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, clear shame encompassing her entire being as the simple question pierced her very core. It had been such a long time and that was entirely her fault. She had left him behind despite what she knew about where she had left him. Running her fingers through her hair, Stephanie tried to figure out what she could say, what she could tell him. How do you make up for something when you can barely forgive yourself for it? Sighing, she looked up Matthew – her eyes drinking in what he had become. Matthew's friend patted him on the shoulder as if to provide some form of comfort and then walked off, vanishing into another house further down the street.