Chapter 8 

“Do you think they’ll fit?” Jedidiah asked, laying out the variety of too small jackets and shirts he’d kept because they’d been presents and he felt bad about getting rid of them, even though Lesedi didn’t mind.

“Probably, I’ll just take them,” Mateo said quickly, grabbing a few and holding them up to his chest. Jedidiah raised an eyebrow at him, crossing his arms. “Why don’t you just try them on here? Saves you taking anything which doesn’t fit which you’d then have to deal with.”

Mateo looked at him for a moment, but Jedidiah couldn’t read his expression. He slowly turned around, taking off his jacket and carefully placing it down on the bed. Jedidiah held in a chuckle; Mateo was acting more awkward than he usually did, and Jedidiah really didn’t see a reason for him to be so awkward about this.

“Gosh, I didn’t mean right in front of me, I was going to at the very least turn around and give you some privacy,” he said with a smirk, flicking his hair from his eyes and turning towards the door. “Quite shy, aren’t you?” He asked rhetorically before exiting and shutting the door carefully behind him.

Mateo glared at the door before sighing, quickly taking off his jumper, shirt and undershirt. He tried on some of the shirts with his undershirt on and off; he didn’t like having to wear too many layers because he got hot easily, but Mateo had to make his chest seem as flat as possible. In the end, he concluded that most of the jackets fitted as well as a few of the shirts; but some were too small even without the undershirt on.

Getting dressed quickly, he strode over to the door and pulled it open, sticking his head out into the corridor. Jedidiah wasn’t in sight, so he left the door open and went back in to try and hold as many of the fitting items as he could. Picking up one of the jackets, he managed to swipe the sleeve over Jedidiah’s bedside table, knocking something to the ground.

“Joder,” he swore, placing the clothes back on the bed and bending down to pick up whatever had fallen and rolled under the bed. In the end, he had to get on his stomach and feel around until he pulled out a little rectangular jewellery box. 

Standing up, he placed the box back on the bedside table, thinking it’d be incredibly rude to snoop around someone else’s things. Picking up the clothes again, he made his way back over to the door, his arms piled high with jackets and shirts. 

Mateo’s head was turned to the side so he didn’t suffocate himself in the clothing, and as a result, he didn’t see Jedidiah walking around the corner. Mateo walked right into him, whacking his head into Jedidiah’s chin.

They both staggered back, Jedidiah groaning slightly as he massaged his chin. “Sorry!” Mateo exclaimed, quickly putting the clothes back on the bed again before rushing back to Jedidiah. He carefully took Jedidiah’s jaw in his hands, moving his head to the side to inspect the damage without hurting his neck by accident.

Mateo sighed with relief; it was just a little red mark and probably wouldn’t hurt for long. “Sorry, I’m a pretty shoddy bodyguard if I hurt you myself,” he said with a slight laugh before realising that Jedidiah was watching him. 

He quickly let go of his face, taking a step back and clearing his throat awkwardly. Jedidiah just smiled, rubbing his chin slightly. “It’s fine, don’t worry. I was more surprised than in actual pain,” he explained, playing with one of his curtain bangs. 

Mateo rubbed his hands together before his eyes landed on the small box he’d knocked off earlier, and suddenly felt even more guilty. “Sorry for- I knocked your box on the floor earlier, I hope whatever’s in it isn’t fragile.”

Jedidiah turned around to look at what Mateo was pointing to, and his eyes suddenly widened slightly. He hurried over to it, opening the box to check on its contents. From here, Jedidiah covered his view of the box, but Jedidiah sighed in relief, carefully taking out a pink butterfly hair clip and checking it over. 

Luckily, it was unharmed from the fall.

Placing it back in the box and closing it, he turned back to Mateo. “It’s fine, don’t worry. Besides, it isn’t particularly fragile, more like…precious. An important memory, I suppose,” he mused, opening his bedside drawer and placing the box inside.

“Don’t feel bad about knocking it off; I shouldn’t have left it out anyway, I was just looking at it the other day and forgot to put it away. Thank you for telling me though, I really appreciate your honesty.”

Mateo smiled slightly, taking the jackets as Jedidiah handed them to him again. “Honesty is the best policy after all.”

Jedidiah grinned, his smile warm and his eyes bright as he held the door open for Mateo. “Honesty truly is the best policy,” Jedidiah agreed. 

The Spaniard returned his smile, nodding his head gratefully as he walked into the hall. Honesty is indeed the best policy, which is why one day, I’ll have to tell him, he thought a little apprehensively. 

Mateo had been expecting to have zero contact with his boss outside of work, but during his first week of work, even in the office the two spent a lot of time together. And now that he’d visited Jedidiah’s house, Mateo was slightly worried that they would end up becoming friends.

And Mateo needed this job to work, so staying entirely professional seemed like the easiest way to stay employed, but then again…having some friends is nice, he couldn’t help but think with a small sigh. 

Joder - fuck